


Cranberry Juice

by niigoki



Series: Cranberry Juice [1]
Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood and Gore, F/F, Mildly Dubious Consent, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:13:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 101,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21575827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niigoki/pseuds/niigoki
Summary: Nayeon just signed with a company to be part of an idol duo with former idol Myoui Mina. The two become friends quickly and always help each other, but Nayeon sometimes feels like she's being watched.Little does she know, her partner is a vampire. And she's not the only one.
Relationships: Chou Tzuyu/Son Chaeyoung, Hirai Momo/Minatozaki Sana, Im Nayeon/Minatozaki Sana, Im Nayeon/Myoui Mina, Kim Dahyun/Son Chaeyoung, Minatozaki Sana/Myoui Mina, Myoui Mina/Yoo Jeongyeon
Series: Cranberry Juice [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1579951
Comments: 73
Kudos: 900





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to post all of it at once. Enjoy the ride, and take care of yourselves.
> 
> memento mori; carpe diem

Nayeon feels like this is the first day of the rest of her life.

She steps into the building, half-confident and half-terrified. When the glass doors open, the chilly air hits her bones.

"Can I help you?" The lady at the front desk asks her.

"Im Nayeon."

A great start.

"I'm starting here today." She quickly tries to fix it, cheeks already red. Thankfully, the lady seems to deal with nervous first-timers a lot, so she simply smiles.

"Of course." She hands her an ID card. "They're waiting for you on the third floor."

"Great! Thanks you. Thank."

Nayeon quickens her pace and enters the elevator. As soon as the doors close, she leans against the mirror and sighs. This was her dream, her entire future; if this was how she behaved in front of an assistant, there was no way she would survive the ruthless world of entertainment. She had to get a grip.

Nayeon gathers herself up and turns around to check her appearance. Flawless as ever.

"You got this, Im Nayeon."

There is a beep and the doors slide open.

Peeking outside, she notices that there is only one large door adorning the opposite wall, so she assumes it's that one. Nayeon knocks once, then pushes it open. "Excuse me?"

The first thing she sees is another girl, dressed in all black, sitting on one of the two chairs with her back turned to her.

She turns to look, and Nayeon catches her breath.

"Oh, good! You're here." A man speaks and Nayeon blinks, waking up from her daze.

"Yes! I'm so sorry for the wait." She walks into the room and sits beside the mysterious girl. With a quick nod she greets her, and the girl nods back, their eyes meeting for a brief moment.

Nayeon once again feels hazy.

“Well, let's get down to business," The man says and Nayeon fights the urge to sing the song. "Welcome to Park Entertainment. Miss Im Nayeon, this is your duo, Myoui Mina. She will be working with you from now on. Mina has been an idol for four years now, so she will be your guide through this new, exciting journey."

Mina grins. Nayeon remembers to breathe again.

"It's such an honor!" Is all Nayeon can say, because now she feels terrible for not realizing who the woman was from the start.

She's heard of Mina before -- indie singer, not many singles out. She had stopped her activities a few months ago, and now it made sense. She was waiting for a partner; this duo was, perhaps, a fresh start for her.

Nayeon couldn't possibly mess this up for her. The pressure was already crushing her bones.

"And I have a meeting in five minutes, so I'll let Mina show you the ropes." The man looks at his phone, then grabs a coat from the rack, already on his way out. "A pleasure meeting you."

"T-thank you!" Nayeon manages to say, smiling brightly until he was gone from the room. Then, she turns to Mina. "...Who was he, again?"

Mina chuckles slightly and Nayeon feels giddy inside for some reason. "That was the CEO, Mr. Park."

"Of course," She blinks away the weird feeling in her stomach and widens her eyes. "The CEO?!"

Mina’s grin is contagious, and she gets up. "You'll get used to him. Let's go."

Nayeon can only follow.

Mina takes the rest of the day to show her the rest of the building. They move from practice rooms to studios, bathrooms, and the cafeteria; Mina introduces her to the staff and famous idols they meet on their way, and Nayeon is in heaven. She doesn’t manage to get a single autograph – because she’s not a creeper, according to herself – but she commits their gorgeous, perfect faces to memory.

This is the life she's always wanted.

Their tour ends at the rooftop. It's already late by the time they're done walking around, so Mina grabs them both something to eat before heading up.

"Having fun so far?" Mina asks.

"This is the best day of my life." Nayeon replies, smiling at the setting sun.

"I'm glad you're excited." Mina's voice is quiet and smooth. There is something a bit cold about the girl, Nayeon realizes, but not in a bad way. She feels at ease with her, and is incredibly happy to have her as a partner.

"Thank you, Mina." She says. "You make things easier."

Nayeon realizes that the only thing Mina had grabbed from the cafeteria was a bottle of cranberry juice. "Aren't you hungry? You had to walk me all over the place."

Mina's smile is gentle. "I'll have a proper dinner once I'm back home, don't worry."

"You better."

Mina pokes her slightly with a foot.

Once Nayeon is finished with her sandwich they leave the roof and go down to the lobby.

"You live close by?" Nayeon asks.

"Quite far." Mina sighs. "You?"

"Three blocks away, actually."

"Lucky."

"Something had to work out for me today." She smirks and Mina laughs.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” The idol smiles, charmingly as always.

They finally part ways and Nayeon waves her new partner goodbye as Mina crosses the street to get the train. She watches as Mina gets lost in the crowd, and doesn't move until she's completely lost sight of her.

Nayeon doesn't even stop to think about her actions, absolutely entranced by the woman she got to spend the day with. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was, but everything about Mina felt comforting and alluring. Maybe it was the excitement of her first day as an official trainee, and the fact that she had a senior who was so cool and composed. Yes, that was it.

The walk back home is familiar. Nayeon had walked by the building countless times when she dreamed about working there, so her legs carried her back with ease.

She turns around a corner, but suddenly feels a chill down her spine. Nayeon stops and looks behind her.

There's no one there.

Her mother had always taught her to trust her gut, so Nayeon resumes her walk with quicker steps. She hugs herself, feeling incredibly cold out of nowhere. It was warm a second ago, where did this temperature drop come from?

Suddenly there is a noise, followed by a quick shadow.

Nayeon jumps back, the shadow in front of her growing bigger in a ridiculously fast pace. She has no idea what it is, so her first instinct is to run.

As soon as she turns around, she comes face to face – nose to nose – with Mina.

"Fucking-- you scared the SHIT out of me!" Nayeon's heart feels like it could leap out of her chest at any second.

"I'm sorry," Mina says and gently cups Nayeon's cheek. "I didn't mean to."

Her voice is different, velvety, and her touch helps Nayeon to calm down.

"It's... okay..." Her eyelids feel incredibly heavy suddenly and Nayeon has to fight the urge to lean her face on Mina's palm. That would be weird, right? To do that on the day they first met? But then, why is Mina even touching her face like that?

"It's ok, Nayeon. Close your eyes."

"W-what...?" Her lips feel like lead and her knees give in before she can process what's happening. Mina catches her carefully, one hand behind her head. "Mina...?"

"It's not going to hurt, I promise. Trust me, ok?"

And right then, Nayeon trusts her with anything.

\--

Nayeon wakes up slowly, frowning at the brightness of her room. Did she forget to close her windows last night? It’s not something she usually forgets.

Sitting up, she rubs her eyes and yawns, then checks her phone. She's not late for work.

Her neck is hurting like a bitch.

She gets out of bed and drags herself lazily to the bathroom to check. She looks in the mirror, but there is nothing on the painful spot -- no bruises, marks, anything.

"God, I better not be catching herpes or something." Nayeon mumbles and proceeds to wash her face. She’s not sure that’s how herpes works.

Arriving at the company, Nayeon greets the lady at the front desk with a smile, then uses her new ID to enter the elevator. Despite her weird morning, she's very excited to meet Mina again.

And for rehearsals, of course.

"Good morning." Mina smiles and Nayeon can't hold back an excited pound of her heart.

"Morning!" She puts her bag in her assigned locker with a grin.

"You look cheerful for 7 in the morning." Mina teases, walking closer.

“I'm an idol now, what's not to love?"

The two laugh and it's nice.

The first lesson of the day is how to warm up their vocal cords nicely. The voice coach is a lady in her 40's, quite strict, but still compliments them when they manage to get it right. Nayeon can't help but to be mesmerized by Mina's singing.

She sounds like a siren out of the ocean.

Lesson two is music. Nayeon knew how to play the piano from a young age, but learning from professionals was another deal entirely. It was like a whole new world of possibilities opened up to her from one simple lesson.

"You can start composing, if you want." Mina mutters when the teacher is not listening. "Homework of sorts."

Nayeon kinda wants to compose with Mina.

Lesson three is dance, and Nayeon has no problems following the basic choreo. It's a simple song with simple movements, just to test the two girls' synergy.

Nayeon considers herself a good dancer. But Mina? She's a whole other level.

Once again, she catches herself staring.

Nayeon spent so much time just being completely amazed by Myoui Mina that she completely forgot about her neck.

Until the choreo required them to move their heads. That's when she's reminded of it, with a sharp pain that chills her to the bones.

"Shi--" She stops the dance, kneeling.

The dance teacher stops the class. "Nayeon? What's wrong?"

She feels ashamed for interrupting and gets up quickly. "N-nothing! I think I just pulled a muscle. Don't worry, please continue."

He nods and starts counting again.

Nayeon catches Mina's eyes; she looks worried.

At lunch time, Nayeon excuses herself and goes to the bathroom. The mirror is big and the lights bright, but she still can't see a single mark or bruise on the sore spot.

She touches it lightly and it really hurts. "What's wrong with me?"

Mina walks in then, startling her.

Nayeon tries to play it cool, removing her hand from her neck. "Oh, hey!"

Mina doesn't fall for it. "Your neck. Is it hurting?"

"Oh. Um, yeah. A little bit. It's fine though, probably just slept with my head all crooked. It happens."

Mina sighs, then touches Nayeon's neck.

"Uh." Is all that comes out of Nayeon's mouth before Mina is right in her personal zone. Her heart beats fast and she's sure she's blushing, but can't bring herself to step back, either. Mina's touch is freezing.

"Sorry." Mina says, rubbing the spot gently with her thumb.

And Nayeon couldn't have predicted what came next, even if she had been a time traveler. Her mind wanders for a second and she realizes how rude it was not to go back in time and warn her past-self of what Mina was about to do.

Dipping her head forward, Mina places a kiss on her neck.

"What are you--" Nayeon's voice finally returns, but before she can finish the sentence, Mina moves up, touching foreheads with her.

It forces Nayeon to stare into her eyes, and they're gold. Two shiny pools of gold, swirling. Were they always like that?

Then, Nayeon faints.

\--

She wakes up in the bathroom, still standing, like nothing even happened. Nayeon frowns, her mind hazy. What just happened? She remembers walking in to check her painful neck...

  
Nayeon touches the spot, and the pain is gone.

"Huh." She shrugs. "Better go meet Mina to eat."

The rest of the day goes by in a blur. Nayeon feels weird since she left the bathroom, but can't quite figure out what's wrong. It's like something was missing, like she had a black out but can't remember when and what exactly was stolen from her.

The day ends; she's exhausted.

"What did you think of your first day as an idol?" Mina asks with a soft smile as the two leave the building.

"Huh? Oh, it was really cool." Nayeon blinks slowly. "Sorry, everything just made me more tired than I expected, I guess."

Mina looks sad for a split second. "That’s normal."

"Hopefully I'll build some stamina from all the training." Nayeon smiles tiredly, but with a glint of excitement still in her eyes.

"You will." Mina hesitates for a moment, hands fidgeting. "Say... do you... want me to accompany you home?"

Cute. Nervous Mina is cute.

Nayeon's first instinct is to say 'yes, please', but she was afraid that it would come out wrong. Mina did say she lived far from the company, after all.

"No, no, don't worry! I swear I'll be fine. But thank you, really." Nayeon feels her cheeks reddening.

Mina can only nod.

They walk together for a little longer. Before parting ways, Mina grabs Nayeon's arm gently. "Here, have my number. Send me a message when you’re home, ok?"

The simple gesture makes Nayeon so happy that she forgets to stop smiling like an idiot for a couple of seconds. "I will!" Then she chastises herself for it. God, she couldn’t stop making a fool out of herself in front of Mina, could she?

Walking back, Nayeon can only think about Mina's concern for her. She feels so giddy, it's kind of dumb. She needed to stop feeling like a high school girl every time Mina paid attention to her, or this partnership would crumble.

Still, Mina's eyes were stuck on her mind. Weird.

Nayeon is one block away from home when she hears something. She turns to look behind her, and sees that something had knocked over a garbage can. A chill hits her spine and everything feels oddly familiar.

She quickens her steps, but feels eyes on her. Lurking. Waiting.

The pressure is surreal, and it feels hard to breathe all of a sudden. Nayeon grabs her chest and starts to run, every bone in her body warning her that something was coming, and it was fast. She had to get away from it. Now.

She can't reach safety. Someone tackles her from above.

Nayeon screams and her bag slides across the floor. She tries to push the person away, but whoever it was had an inhuman grip on her shoulders.

"Shhh." She hears. Hair tickles Nayeon's face and she finally pays attention to the one on top of her.

It was a beautiful girl.

"Who are you??" Nayeon asks, punching and kick effortlessly.

"Relax." The girl's eyes are shiny and silver and Nayeon gets pulled in immediately. Her arms go limp. "I just want first taste." Her mouth lowers to Nayeon's pulse point, but then she stops. "Oh, someone was here first."

Out of nowhere, the girl on top of Nayeon is tackled by someone else. Both bodies hit the concrete wall on the opposite side of the street with a deafening noise. Nayeon blinks rapidly, her body regaining consciousness. She sits up.

The silhouette of someone else is standing protectively in front of her.

"Don't touch her."

The silver-eyed girl coughs the dust out of her lungs and gets up, cleaning her outfit. She's wearing a suit, no tie. Even her shoes look new. "Ouch, rude much?"

"You're far from your territory. Why?"

"I'm actually right at the border. She," The girl nods at Nayeon. "Just has bad luck."

“What are you talking about?"

"We've expanded, Minari. No one told you?"

The girl approaches them and that's when it hits Nayeon. The one who saved her. "...Mina?"

Mina sighs, and turns her face with a guilty grin. "Hey, Nayeon. Sorry about the mess."

She was so confused.

"Who— what—" Nayeon tries again, but is interrupted.

"Ohh, Nayeon. That's a cute name." The other girl licks her lips. "Tastes good."

"Back off." Mina warns her. "Even if she is right at the border, I claimed her first."

"I figured it was you. No one's bite is that clean."

That piece of dialogue, together with her weird memory-loss and neck pain, told Nayeon everything she needed to know about the situation.

With her one last drop of insanity, she opens her mouth. "You're vampires."

The two girls stop bickering and just gape at her.

"I like her." The mysterious girl says, a smirk on her lips. "Come on Mina, can't you share?"

"What— no!" Mina shakes her head strongly and it's – Nayeon will go crazy by the end of this night – cute. "Go away, she needs to sleep, we have lessons tomorrow."

"Meh. Fine."

The girl saunters towards Nayeon, who is still sitting on the cold asphalt floor, and winks past her. "If she ever bores you, call me. I'm Sana by the way."

The silver-eyed vampire then jumps away and disappears.

Nayeon notices that she dropped a piece of paper with her number on her lap.

"God, I hate her." Mina sounds incredibly frustrated when she helps Nayeon up. "You're okay? Did she hurt you?"

"Uh. No."

"Good. I'm very sorry."

"It's–" Nayeon has no idea what to say. "It's ok." She looks at the piece of paper in her hands. "...I'm really tired. Wow."

"Do you need–" Mina starts, but Nayeon stops her.

"To have my memory erased and forget that my partner is a vampire who apparently 'claimed me' as hers? Yes." She sighs. "Do I want this? No." And because she's a bit crazy, Nayeon just leans in and kisses Mina's cheek. "Goodnight, Mina."

Mina stands there on the porch of Nayeon's house as she watches the girl walk in, quite speechless.

She needed to erase her memory, that much was certain. It did her no good to have her partner walking around with knowledge like that, specially since the two were bound to work together for years to come, if everything worked out. But now that she knows that Nayeon lives right on the border of two territories, things got difficult.

Mina touches her cheek.

The kiss feels fresh.

\--

Nayeon expected to wake up not remembering a thing, but instead finds herself opening her eyes and having vivid flashbacks of last night. Vampires, Mina, Sana, territories. A cheek kiss.

The kiss is what actually makes her nervous and she wants to punch herself.

"It's fine, Nayeon. Just ask Mina to erase your memories and everything will be ok. No vampire business, no terrifying anxiety, only you and your idol dream." Nayeon mumbles all the way up the elevator.

The door opens and Mina is there. "Morn–"

"You BIT ME."

Mina puts a hand over the girl's mouth immediately and drags her away. Nayeon notices that their voice coach was nearby and probably heard her scream. Good one, Nay.

Once they're alone in a sound-proof room, Mina closes the door and lets her go. "Please be careful."

"Be careful? Oh, BE CAREFUL? I'm sorry, miss VAMPIRE doesn't want the company to know that there is a VAMPIRE among them??" Nayeon knows she's being kind of a bitch; Mina did save her yesterday. But then again, she's a bit stressed. "I'm sorry, I will try to be DISCREET."

Mina sighs. She waits for Nayeon to stop fuming. "Are you done yelling?"

"YES." Nayeon yells. "Yes. Ok, I'm good. Sorry. Proceed."

"Thank you." Mina gestures for her to sit and Nayeon does. "I'm sorry I bit you, and I'm sorry I forgot to get rid of the neck pain. I was... a little nervous."

"…What?"

"It was the first time I fed in a little while and I just..." Mina shivers. "Hate it. Having to do that."

Nayeon blinks. "What."

"You probably think I'm b–"

"Bullshitting me, yes." She frowns. "What kind of vampire are you?"

Mina actually takes offence to that. "Hey!"

Nayeon raises an eyebrow. "Aren't vampires supposed to like hunting innocent humans and sucking all the blood out of them? At least that's what every movie says."

"Movies also say that werewolves exist."

Nayeon actually feels incredibly disappointed for a second. "…They don't?"

"Oh my god."

"Well excuse me for having Hollywood as the basis of my VAMPIRE knowledge!"

"Would you stop yelling!" Mina pinches the bridge of her nose. "Look, we need to get to our lessons before people start asking. I promise I'll explain everything afterwards. Just… please don’t make a scene. Please."

Nayeon grunts. "Fine." But she has one last question before they leave the room. "Why didn't you just erase my memory yesterday?"

And Mina could've told her about the complications of vampire politics, but instead went with, "I didn't want you to forget that you kissed me."

Nayeon chokes and Mina manages to laugh.

\--

It's quite jarring how peacefully the day passes after Nayeon's small breakdown. They sing, dance, and even start composing a new song by themselves, and Nayeon doesn't feel threatened at all. Not like she did with Sana last night.

At lunchtime, they eat on the roof again.

Nayeon notices it immediately. "You're drinking soda?"

"Yeah. Want some?" Mina offers her.

"No, I thought... vampires couldn't eat normal food? Just blood?"

"I can't eat any type of food, but drinks are fine. Water, soda, juice."

"Oh." That was weird. "You're weird."

"Vampires like Sana can't, though." Mina continues in a lower voice, as if she was hesitant to explain. "They can only drink blood, and that's it."

That simple sentence was too much information, already. Nayeon perks up. "Wait, so there is more than one type of vampire?" That was something the movies didn't tell her.

"Yeah. Two of them."

Mina shifts on her seat and comes a bit closer. Nayeon should move away, but doesn’t feel threatened.

"Look at my eyes." Mina mutters and her irises start to swirl, slowly turning gold. Nayeon's mouth opens and she feels fuzzy. Then, Mina pulls back.

"Sorry, staring for too long is dangerous." Mina sounds a bit guilty and sips her soda.

"Golden eyes... is that how you erase people's memories?" Nayeon asks.

"Yes. I'm a golden-eyed vampire. Sana is a silver-eyed one. We're... quite different in many aspects. Lifestyle, values."

Nayeon is interested.

"Well, tell me everything." She says, a bit more excitedly than she should be. Mina just smiles and pokes her forehead playfully.

"Afterwards. You have a song to memorize." She finishes her soda and gets up, walking away.

Nayeon whines. "Minaaaa..." But she eventually follows her, smiling too.

\--

Lessons finish earlier that day. The voice coach pats Nayeon on the back after class. "You're improving a lot, keep it up."

Nayeon bows with a huge smile and thanks her. Mina watches fondly. The two girls then enter the elevator and go down to the lobby.

Nayeon notices something inside the elevator when she looks at the mirror. "Your reflection."

"Yes?"

"So you can be reflected in mirrors."

Mina rolls her eyes. "Yes, Nayeon."

"And you can also walk under the sunlight."

"Yep."

"You're the most boring vamp, aren't you?"

"Ugh."

Nayeon keeps nagging her, because at this point it's just too much fun. "Aren't you fundamentally just a normal person but with super strength and a messed up diet plan?"

"Why don't you call Sana if you want to hang out with a traditional vampire?" Mina huffs and walks away.

Nayeon freezes for a second, remembering who she's dealing with. Mina might be a _nice_ vampire, but pushing her buttons like that wasn't smart. Nayeon runs to catch up to her.

"Hey, wait! I'm sorry, Mina." She feels genuinely bad. "That was shitty. I'll be more sensible."

"You should. Vampires are a struggling minority, you know." Mina says seriously. "You should read up on the historical persecution of innocent vampires. I can lend you some books, if you want. They are very informative."

Nayeon blinks slowly. "Are you joking or...?"

Mina stops as soon as she leaves the building and turns to her, no smiles, no jokes. "Nayeon."

Nayeon swallows hard. "Y-yes?"

"Of course I'm joking." Then she grins wickedly. "Dumb-dumb."

Nayeon wants to slap her but restrains herself and just groans. "I deserved it."

They don't really move for a while, then Mina looks around and sighs. "I should probably accompany you to your house. Someone might jump you again."

"Why me, though?" That's the one thing Nayeon was the most curious about. "First you, then Sana. Two vampires in a row."

Mina debates explaining it to her now or later. If there was any vampire around, they would definitely listen. Mina wasn't sensing anything, so she figures it's okay.

"Silvers want first taste. You're new prey to them since they've expanded territory. You're prime blood."

Well, that was reassuring. "Uh... fuck me, I guess?" Then Nayeon frowns. "Hold on, but you bit me first, right? Sana even mentioned someone had 'been here before'."

"I don't really count. I'm a Golden. Our bites mean nothing to them. They don't really respect us." Mina sounds resigned.

"So there is a hierarchy involved…" Nayeon mutters to herself, trying to understand it the best she can. She's always been more intuitive than most, but this whole thing was proving to be a lot more complicated than she expected.

Mina doesn’t respond to that. Nayeon softens her gaze. "Get me home? Let's talk there."

The way home this time is a lot less stressful. With Mina by her side, Nayeon feels incredibly safe. It was crazy, to think about how a vampire was keeping her safe from other vampires.

Nayeon steals a glance at the girl next to her, observing her movements. Mina is nothing but lovely to be around. She does everything to keep Nayeon calm and happy, and this is messing with her mind a little bit, considering that she did have Nayeon’s blood for dinner literally the day before.

There is no chill down her spine or terrifying shadow following them, and soon they get home. Nayeon unlocks her door and walks in, but Mina stops on the porch.

"What's wrong?" Nayeon asks.

"You, uh– you have to invite me in, or I can't get in."

Nayeon jumps. "I KNEW IT!"

They soon settle down around the kitchen table. Nayeon prepares a quick dinner and asks Mina if she wants anything to eat out of habit. Then she blushes and mutters a 'never mind...'. Mina giggles, but feels thankful either way.

She does ask for some juice, though.

"Okay, so tell me the main differences between gold and silver. And I'm not talking about Pokémon." Nayeon jokes and Mina rolls her eyes with a smile.

"You're taking this way too well."

"It's your fault for not erasing my memory. Deal with it."

Mina can live with this.

"Alright. Well, one difference is for how long we've been around. Silvers are usually older, more ancient vampires, who were turned hundreds of years ago, some even thousands. Goldens are relatively new. I think the oldest one dates from the 70s."

Nayeon raises her eyebrows. "That young? Wow."

“It’s what we’re told.”

"How come gold vampires came to be, then?" Nayeon asks, confused.

"No one really knows. Maybe some mutation, or evolution? It's not like we took vampire biology lessons in high school." Mina shrugs. "It bothers me too. The things is, it bothers _them_ even more."

Mina scratches the surface of the wooden table, staring at her fingers. "Silvers are way more vulnerable despite being a lot more powerful than us. They are closest to the vampires in the movies. Can't go out in the sun, need to eat every night, can be killed with stakes. Goldens don't have any of that. We really can live like normal people, have hobbies, a life outside of our... condition." She laughs awkwardly. "We only have to feed once a week, at most." Mina lifts her gaze. "But virgin blood like yours fills us for a whole month."

"I'm not a–!" Nayeon blushes furiously, slamming her hands on the table. "How did you even– okay, first of all, it's none of your business!"

"I'm sorry!" Mina flinches. "It wasn't my intention, I–"

"Never mind THAT!" Nayeon huffs. "Go on." Then mutters, "Shameless vamps..."

Mina clears her throat. "A-anyway. Because they are a lot more powerful than us, but we aren't exactly a threat to them, we learned to coexist. This city was divided into territories; a few for us, a lot more for them." She sighs. "Your house is in the very middle of one."

Nayeon settles down and starts to worry. “What does that mean for me?”

"Borders are sort of a free-for-all blood fest. Goldens tend to stay away because we don't want any conflict, but I didn't know they had expanded when I bit you. Now that Sana knows that, she'll probably not leave you alone until you're... well. Hers."

Nayeon gapes. "What?!"

"Vampires are very competitive. I took her most prized meal, someone who has never been bitten before and who's a–" Mina catches her tongue before she gets scolded again. "You know. She won't accept losing to a Goldie."

Nayeon shivers. "So I'm a prize, now."

The air becomes heavy suddenly as Nayeon quiets down, the giddy, teasing human now replaced by a worried, scared girl.

Mina places one hand on top of Nayeon's. "If it helps, I won't let her get to you. I started this mess, I'll protect you."

Nayeon stares back with a sigh.

"You just said they're a lot more powerful than you. Won't you get in trouble?"

Mina is taken aback by that. Nayeon was actually more worried about Mina's safety than hers? This was stupidly selfless of her.

If she had a beating heart, Mina was sure it would be pounding now.

"I won't be alone. I have a few... contacts." Mina says slowly and Nayeon notices.

"Vampire friends?"

Mina shakes her head. "Vampire hunters."

"Oh." Things just got a lot more interesting. "Wait, that's rad as hell."

Mina can't believe this girl sometimes.

Dinner ends and Nayeon feels exhausted from all the information. She has a headache and just wants to take a bath.

She wants to escort Mina all the way out, but Mina stops her from stepping out of home. "You'll be safe inside. Silvers also can't come in unless invited."

Nayeon whispers. "I knew it."

Mina shakes her head, fondly.

"Thank you, Mina." Nayeon says. "For you know... not erasing my memories and telling me everything. And for wanting to protect me, too." She chuckles. "I feel like I need to thank you for a lot of things."

Mina just grins. "I think just another kiss will do." As soon as she says that, Mina steps back with a breathy laugh. "Just kidding–"

But Nayeon steps forward, grabs Mina by the lapel of her jacket, and places another kiss on her cheek. She stays there for longer than last night, but eventually steps back inside. "For putting up with my annoying ass today."

She waves Mina goodbye then, and finally closes the door. Mina stands there, still a bit in shock. That kiss felt different.

She shakes her head and turns around, getting rid of dangerous thoughts.

From far away, silver eyes watch her with a shiny smirk. "Minari, Minari..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on twitter @niigoki_


	2. Chapter 2

The morning light seeps through the windows and Nayeon wakes up with a yawn. She turns around and rubs her eyes, her alarm clock buzzing. After turning it off, she sits up.

For a second she forgets about everything and it's great. But her head is soon filled with vampires again.

Despite Mina's reassurance that Silvers couldn't go out in the sunlight, Nayeon still hesitates to leave home. She had an idol career to focus on, however, so she eventually steps out of the house, looking around. It's a beautiful day and she thinks about Mina waiting for her.

As she makes her way to her new job, her mind wanders; she thinks about the kiss. Nayeon had never been so bold in her life and she has no idea where this courage was coming from. She just wanted to show gratitude. Mina seemed to like it, too.

It was just a silly kiss, she tells herself. Nothing special.

She daydreams for long and soon stops in the middle of a crowd as people wait to cross the street. Her usual headphones are tucked away today so she can pay attention to her surroundings. Nayeon is a cautious woman.

Even so, when someone whispers in her ear, she's not ready. "You didn't call me."

Nayeon lets out a half-scream and jumps away. That's when she gets to see who managed to come so close without her even noticing, and what she sees puzzles her.

The person is covered in black from top to bottom, holding an umbrella for shade. Her face is the only skin showing.

It's Sana.

"Hello." The vampire tries her best to wave in the constricting outfit.

Nayeon takes a moment to process the preposterous scene in front of her, and when she does, she almost laughs. But then remembers that she's dealing with the one who wants to 'claim' her. Whatever that means.

So, she bites back. "You look ridiculous."

Sana just pouts. "I know..."

The two face each other in silence. When the crowd starts moving, Nayeon simply turns around and leaves.

"Hey, wait up!" Sana follows.

"Go away or I'll yank this umbrella from you and watch you turn to dust in the sun."

Sana laughs loudly. "I really like you."

The vampire keeps following her. For some reason, Nayeon knows she won't attack her. At least not in the middle of the street in broad daylight. Maybe she was trying to lure her somewhere?  
  
"It's not gonna work." Nayeon says. "I won't listen to you."

"I know. Didn't expect you to."

"Then goodbye." Nayeon walks faster.

"Mina told you all about us, didn't she?" Sana calls from behind her. "About the big, scary Silvers, merciless vampires who don't give a shit about their prey."

And Nayeon knows she shouldn't fall for it, but Sana sounds...

Hurt.

She slows down enough for Sana to catch up again, but still refuses to look at her. "Yes, she did. And I know what you want."

"To claim you. Yeah, I bet that's what she told you." Sana scoffs. "Do I look like I am in any position of attacking you right now?"

"...No," Nayeon hesitates. "But you will as soon as the sun sets." She finishes, not really believing that, but she can't let Sana in. Vampires were manipulative. At least that's what the movies said.

"You won't believe me, but I won't." Sana says.

"You're right, I don't believe you."

"...Okay, I asked for that one.” Sana nods to herself, then continues. ”Nayeon, why would I even need to lie? I could put you to sleep right now if I wanted to and just suck you dry."

"I WILL kick your umbrella away." Nayeon gets into a defensive position.

Sana shrugs and offers her the umbrella. "Fine. Do it, then."

Nayeon finally stops, surprised at this response. Accidentally, she looks at Sana in the eyes. They are indeed silver, but were not shining. Nayeon assumes that this meant that she wasn't using her powers.

Sana sounds and looks honest.

"...What do you want from me, Sana?" Nayeon asks.

"I want to tell you my side of the story," Sana says, pulling back the umbrella to herself. "Mina got to tell hers and I just think it's fair for you to know both."

"Why should I trust you? You attacked me."

"Didn't Mina attack you too?"

Touché.

"...I'm going to be late." Nayeon sighs. "I'll call you, or something. I don't feel safe with you around."

It's all Sana wants to hear. She beams, "Thank you, Nay. And don't worry, I won't attack you on your way home."

Nayeon blushes at the nickname. She’s about to tell Sana never to call her that again.

But Sana is already gone.

\--

Mina notices that something is wrong as soon as Nayeon arrives at the company. She isn't as cheerful and hyper as usual, and Mina figures that it's because of all the information she dumped on her yesterday.

She feels bad. Nayeon deserved to be happy, but Mina just made her anxious.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Mina offers Nayeon a sip of her tea as soon as they step into the roof to eat.

"My thoughts are worth more than that." Nayeon smirks, grabbing the drink. Mina is relieved at the joke.

"Two pennies?"

Nayeon playfully kicks her. "At least three, come on."

"What's up?" Mina asks, and Nayeon hesitates. She hates how Sana managed to put thoughts in her head with a few simple sentences, making her doubt Mina's honesty. They were supposed to be in this together. Mina said that she would protect her.

"Mina... why did you bite me in the first place?" Nayeon doesn't look up.

Mina’s gaze falls to her feet and she plays with the hem of her shirt, nervously. "Because I didn't want to have to hunt for a month. Your blood would allow me not to worry about that."

It's a good reason, Nayeon rationalizes. "Your plan was to bite me, erase my memory, and pretend it never happened?"

"Yes."

"Then why protect me from Sana? Why give away who you were?" Nayeon looks up, but Mina doesn't.

"I..." She stutters. Was she afraid? Ashamed? "I wasn't going to. But then I realized it was Sana."

"You two got history?"

"Sort of."

Nayeon isn't sure she wants to know the details. "Could you erase my memories now if you wanted to?"

"Yes."

"Will you?" Nayeon doesn't even know why she asks.

Mina frowns. "Do you want me to?"

"No," Nayeon looks at the sky, puts a hand in her pocket. Feels her phone there. "Just asking."

Mina doesn't know what Nayeon is thinking and she feels terrible. She has no idea what she will do if Nayeon suddenly drops out of the company because of that. They had barely started; their debut date wasn't even set yet, but their synergy was good. Mina could see a future for them if they worked hard together.

Also… Mina likes having her around.

Nayeon soon breaks the tension with another smirk and a poke to Mina's ribs. "I don't regret it, you know. Becoming your duo, getting to know about vampires, all the crazy stuff."

“Oh,” Mina gets her hopes up again. “You don't?”

"Nah. I love drama."

Mina tries her hardest to hide her amusement, but fails. She kinda hates this girl, but not really.

"Say... how does this work exactly? What does it take for someone to turn into a vampire?" Nayeon asks, drinking more of Mina's tea.

"It depends on how much blood you lose," Mina swings her legs. "If you die in the process, you turn."

"Did you drink a lot from me?"

Mina feels shy.

"You're awfully quiet and I'll take that as a yes." Nayeon instinctively puts her hand on her pulse point.

"I'm sorry." Mina says. "I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't have to hunt again for a long time."

"Could you have turned me?"

"I'm always careful. Never turned anyone."

"You're such a nice vampire." Nayeon is back to teasing and Mina knows where this is going, but she doesn't care.

She grins. "Is that even a thing? I still drink blood from non-consenting humans."

"I'm not about to discuss vampire morals in the middle of lunch, Mina."

"Fine." Mina finishes her tea and Nayeon is done with her food, so the two get up to go back to class. "Just to be clear... we're still friends, right?"

She sounds small and fragile. Nayeon grabs her hand. "Of course, loser. You're my vampire in shiny armor."

Mina snorts. "Ew."

They leave the roof and Nayeon feels better. She had no reason to distrust Mina. The girl had always been completely transparent with her, even if she had her fair share of history with other vamps, apparently. Maybe she'd share in time.

Still, Nayeon didn't tell her about Sana.

\--

They have an endurance test as their last lesson for the day, and that meant planking. The coach asks every trainee to hold on for as long as they could. Nayeon manages three and a half minutes.

Mina is the last one to go down. She smirks at her duo and Nayeon mutters a 'cheater'.

At night, they walk home together. Nayeon watches Mina from the side and the girl looks so on edge that it's quite funny.

She remembers Sana's promise of not attacking her and wonders if she'll keep it.

When they arrive safely, Nayeon bites her bottom lip.

"Weird." Mina observes. "I didn't feel a single vampire presence the whole way here."

"Is this uncommon?"

"If Silvers just expanded, then yeah. I expected to feel some of them around, but... nothing." She frowns. "It's like someone scared them all away."

"Maybe they're all sleepy." Nayeon tries but realizes how dumb it sounds the moment the words leave her mouth. "They sleep during the—"

"During the day, yes. They're not sleepy." Mina grins. "Nice try, though."

"Hey, my house is in the middle of a war-zone, I'll take what I can get." Nayeon shrugs, then stops in front of her door. "Do you want to come in?" She pauses. "Also, do I have to invite you all the time, or...?"

"Just once is enough." Mina giggles. "And no, thank you. I don't want to keep you, you should have one decent night of sleep, at least."

Nayeon wants Mina to stay, but doesn't say it.

They say goodnight and this time there is no kiss. It's wrong and unnatural, Nayeon thinks, but she wasn't about to ask for a kiss every single night. That would be weird. So, she just watches her partner as she leaves. She hopes that’s not creepy.

Finally, she closes the door, and with a yawn and a stretch of her muscles, Nayeon starts her nightly routine. She goes up to her room and removes her makeup, putting on some comfortable clothes. Then, she lies on the bed with a deep sigh. She’s quite hungry, but her mind is elsewhere. She looks at her drawer.

The piece of paper with Sana’s number is inside. Nayeon considers for a second, then shakes her head. No, Sana was the enemy, Mina told her so. She didn’t want anything to do with her.

She gets up and goes down to make some dinner.

With a full stomach, Nayeon sits down to watch the TV. Mindless entertainment might help her get her mind out of the gutter. She watches the ending of a drama that she’s never seen before and doesn’t understand a thing. After that, Nayeon decides to take a shower.

Now warm and clean, Nayeon can go to sleep. She turns on the lamp by her nightstand, props herself up with a pillow, and grabs a book to read before tucking herself in. It was a peaceful, normal night.

No vampires, no shiny eyes, no problems.

...

Nayeon closes the book.

She hates this.

The numbers are hard to read, but she manages. Nayeon brings the phone up to her ear and waits. It rings once, then twice. On the third time, someone answers.

"Hello, Nay."

“Hello, Sana.” She really hates this. "Ok, first of all, don't call me Nay. We're not friends."

"Yet."

Nayeon can taste Sana's smirk and she hates that girl. She's starting to understand why Mina does too. "Whatever. Here's how this is going to work—"

"Oh, bossy! Love it."

"Interrupt me again—"

"Sorry."  
  
"UGH." Nayeon is already going crazy. "I'll ask you some questions. Depending on your answers, I'll decide if you're telling me the truth or not." Nayeon continues, forcing her voice to be stable.

"Sounds fair."

"I'm in control of this conversation, got it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"...Maybe I am bossy."

"A little bit."

"Right. Ok." Nayeon starts with a test. "Tell me the main differences between Silvers and Goldens."

Sana doesn’t waste her time with riddles. "Silvers can't get in direct contact with the sunlight, we have to feed every night, we can't erase people's memories, we can be easily killed by stakes—"

"Wait, you can't erase memories?" Nayeon interrupts.

"Nope. We can only put people to sleep." Sana replies simply.

"Oh. Ok, next question." So far, everything matched with what Mina had told her. "About stakes. Goldens can't be killed this way?"

"Nah. There's only way to kill Goldies."

"...How?"

"Ripping their heads off, silly."

Nayeon feels her stomach churning and doesn't want to think about that anymore. "Moving on. If your... _kind_ is so much more vulnerable, how come you're not the ones afraid of Goldens?"

Sana actually laughs. "Because we can rip their heads off with a finger, Nayeon."

This makes Nayeon shiver and she looks out of the window, just to be certain that Sana wasn't there, watching her every move. There is only darkness. Nayeon pulls her knees to her chest. "Have you?"

"Hm?"

"Killed another vampire?"

There's silence for a moment, then Sana answers. "Of course." It's quiet for a moment. Sana speaks again. "You're still there?"

"Yeah. Just... letting it all sink in."

"Take your time. Oh, hold on, gotta stay quiet for a bit."

"Huh?" Suddenly everything is silent, and it feels like Sana hung up. "Hello?"

Someone screams on the phone, but it’s cut short as soon as it happens. Nayeon almost throws her phone across the room. She takes a deep breath and just waits, hands sweating and heart racing.

After a few seconds, Sana is back. "Sorry about that! Dinner almost escaped."

Nayeon pulls her covers up. "I don't need to know that!"

Sana chuckles again. "I don't get it, you're friends with a vampire but still finds vampire rituals weird? Did Mina even tell you anything at all?"

"She doesn't make it sound—"

"Gross? Monstrous?" Sana sounds serious for once. "Because it's what we both are, Nayeon."

Mina's words return, and Nayeon swallows dry.

_'I still drink blood from non-consenting humans.'_

What was it that made Mina different from Sana in that regard?

"She doesn't enjoy doing it." Nayeon says before she can stop herself. Defending a vampire. How did she get here?

"Right. Of course." There is something in Sana's voice, but Nayeon can't figure out what. The vampire changes subjects. "Any more questions?"

Nayeon puts her legs back down. "Yes. Uh." Suddenly all her questions vanish, and she doesn't feel so confrontational. "How old are you, Sana?"

"Four hundred thirty-five."

"What?!"

"You'd think we'd lost count after a few centuries, but vampires always celebrate their birthdays. Mine is on December 29th!" She giggles. "Which kinda sucks because people always wear scarves in winter."

Nayeon figures it's a vampire joke. "But... how old were you when you were turned?"  
  
"Ok, you didn't know so I won't be mad, but that is a very rude question to ask a vampire, Nay."

"O-oh, sorry, I didn't—" She frowns. "Is that a joke."

"Of course it's a joke."

"You vampires have a shit sense of humor."

"But it really doesn't matter." Sana finally decides to stop pestering her. "I was about your age."

"I see." Nayeon lies down, staring at the wall. "Silvers are the oldest vampires, right? And Goldens started appearing only recently."

"That's right." Sana sounds distant.

"Is that why you resent them so much?" Nayeon is careful with her words. "Because they get to keep living their lives, whereas you just... couldn't."

No answer for a moment. Nayeon thinks she fucked it all up by nailing it.

"Ouch." Sana laughs weakly.

Nayeon feels the need to apologize, but thinks that it will just make Sana angry. "So that's what it is."

"Vampires are proud creatures. Not everything is sunshine and rainbows between Silvers. We're territorial, angry, and we can destroy ourselves from the inside without help." Nayeon hears Sana scoffing. "Goldies? They don't care about any of that. They can have hobbies, friends, a family. They don't even have to worry about getting caught drinking blood once a week! Wiping memories is a hell of a power, huh..." She sounds wistful. "I wish I could kill them all myself."

For the first time, Nayeon feels like Sana put her guard down. That raw, pure hatred towards the people who have it better than them by no reason other than being born the way they were.  
  
Some humans could relate, Nayeon thinks.

"I'm out of questions." Nayeon finally says.

"Will you listen to me, now?" Sana asks with a grunt. It sounds like she just got up and started walking.

"Yeah."

"Good! I just have a simple request, if you're interested."

"What is it?" Sana doesn't answer and Nayeon frowns. "Hello?"

"Sorry, my ears were itchy and I had to remove my earpods real quick."

Nayeon blinks. "Earpods."

"You have no idea how useful they are when you're hunting but wants to chat."

"I feel like I'm having a fever dream." Nayeon was going to punch a vampire by the end of the week.

"Anyway, do you like to write?" Sana continues.

"Write? Like, stories?" Nayeon frowns.

"Just in general."

"I mean, I've had diaries before..."

"Perfect!" Sana smiles. "I'd like for you to keep a journal on vampires."

It comes so out of nowhere that Nayeon feels dizzy. "Excuse me?"

"A journal. Just write down the things you observe when you're around Mina, or when you talk to me. If you meet another vampire, write it down. How they behave, if they're a Silver or a Goldie. Things like that."

Nayeon doesn’t get it. "But... why?"

"Because no one else has ever done it."

"That's impossible." Nayeon feels her heart racing. "No one in the world has a journal on vampires? A research, a goddamn PhD?"

"Nope." Sana shrugs.

"But—"  
  
"You know what I wanted to be when I was alive?" Nayeon feels a blow coming. "A historian."

Yep. A blow.

Nayeon doesn't need Sana to continue. "You want me to carry on with your dream."

"Our history deserves to be recorded! I have a few things written, but what good is it if a vampire writes about herself? We need a human perspective of things."

The responsibility was so heavy.

"Is this some kind of trick?" Nayeon is almost begging Sana to admit that this is all a farce.

"No. You're allowed to decline, you know." Sana replies.

Nayeon wants to. She can't possibly carry a whole legacy on her own, knowing just the surface of what being a vampire entails.

"...Do I have to answer you now?" Nayeon asks slowly.

"You don't have to answer me at all." There is some wind. Sana just jumped really high. "I just want you to consider it."

"Will you stop hunting me if I do?" Nayeon, somehow, knew the answer to that, too.

"No." Sana answers casually.

"Then why should I do anything you say?" She's going to lose her mind.

"As I said, you don't have to. I wanted to make you an offer, but I still want to sink my teeth in your flesh. Your blood is too special to go to waste." Sana licks her lips.

"If you say the V-word I SWEAR."

She hears Sana laughing loudly on the other side and groans. Nayeon turns and sinks her face in her pillow for a moment before resurfacing. "This whole conversation was pointless!"

"Was it, though?" Sana says. "I answered all of your questions and gave you something valuable."

"Valuable??"

"Human curiosity works best when stimulated."

"I'm hanging up." Nayeon has had enough. "And I'm telling Mina all of this tomorrow."

"Feel free. She's not a threat." Sana chuckles lightly.

"Goodbye!"

"Night, night. Don't let the vamp bite."

Nayeon hangs up and tosses the phone on the pillow with a scream.

She's about to turn off the lights when she stops. The dark scares her. Sana was still going to hunt her. There were more vampires out there who might be interested in her blood. Mina couldn't protect her all on her own.

She remembers something Mina told her.

Vampire hunters.

With a surge of rage, Nayeon gets up and opens her drawer, looking for something. She finally finds it; a simple notebook, and a pen. They're both relatively new, being gifts from her mother from a few months back.

She sits at her desk and starts writing.

_Today a vampire asked me to record their history. This same vampire wants my blood._

_Vampires seem to operate in a twisted moral code that I can't comprehend. But one thing I do understand: there is so much spite._

_So I'll do it. I'll write your history out of spite._

_I'll record your every step and action, the shape of your face and the color of your eyes. So when you hunt me down and think you've got me cornered, I can turn around and see the stake of a vampire hunter nailed to your chest._

_Don't worry, you won't be forgotten._

Nayeon closes her notebook and gets back into bed, finally turning off the lights.

She's not scared anymore.

She knows exactly who she's dealing with, and she'll make sure to give Sana a human perspective of things, if that's what she so desperately wants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on twitter @niigoki_


	3. Chapter 3

Jeongyeon isn't having a good day. There is more paper on her table than yesterday, she can't find her pen to fill them in and get rid of dumb bureaucracies, and her sister is out on a case. She hates not being able to be with her.

Someone knocks and opens the door to her office, poking his head inside. "Yoo, the boss is calling for you."

A bad day.

Jeongyeon gives up on the pen and moves to her boss's office with an exasperated sigh. She already knows what this is about.

"Ma'am, our special agent is almost here—" Jeongyeon hears her boss trying to calm someone down from inside his room.

"I want you to deal with this right now!" There is a lady yelling and Jeongyeon rolls her eyes, opening the door.

"Special officer Yoo Jeongyeon." She introduces herself with her ID quickly and sits down in front of the woman. "Let's get this over with, go on."

Her boss disapproves of her rudeness, but stays quiet.

"This!" The woman points to her own neck, red and swollen. "You see this??"

"I see it." Jeongyeon doesn't waver.

"Some... THING attacked me last night. I was on my way home, it was 10pm, like usual. My neighborhood is incredibly safe and peaceful, so I never had to worry! But now? I want the police to search the entire area and find this LUNATIC!" The woman’s face is red as she breathes heavily. She’s both scared and furious.

Jeongyeon looks at her boss sitting next to the victim and just lifts her eyebrows slowly. A code.

The man understands and sighs, getting up. "Don't worry ma'am, our officer will help you. If you'll excuse me."

"Where are YOU going?" The woman asks, still upset.

"Ma'am, what's your name?" Jeongyeon asks, taking something out of her pocket.

"Kim Shinyoung. What does it matter? The creature didn't ask for my name." She leans in. "Do you know what I think happened to me?"

"Do tell." Jeongyeon doesn't look up.

"Vampire." She whispers.

"You don't say." Jeongyeon finally reveals the thing in her palm, a small silver cross pendant. She brings it to Shinyoung's eye-level. "Would you please look over here?"

"Why should I?"

The pendant starts swinging slowly. "Just for a moment. It's okay. You're safe, here."

Her voice gets deeper and lower, velvety and sweet to the ears. Shinyoung's eyes follow the pendant on their own, and Jeongyeon keeps talking. "Your name is Kim Shinyoung, correct?"

"...Yes." The woman complies, hesitantly.

"You were returning home yesterday, like usual. It was a really nice weather out." Jeongyeon continues. "On your way home, you received a call from your friend. Remember her name?"

"A call from..." Shinyoung blinks slowly. "Yongdonnie?"

"Yes. Yongdonnie called you and asked if you wanted to go to a bar. You two hadn't partied in quite a while."

"Oh. That's right."

"You decided to indulge her, because you really missed her." Jeongyeon continues, moving the pendant left, and right, slowly. "You met Yongdonnie at the bar and you two drank a lot. Remember that, Shinyoung?"

She frowns. "Right... yes, yes, we went overboard..."

"Your mind got really foggy after that, and you don't remember much. But a guy called you out to dance, didn't he?"

"A guy..." Shinyoung smiles dumbly. "No guy would call someone like me to dance."

"That's not true." Jeongyeon softens her voice. "You got a hickey, after all."

"Hi...ckey...?" Shinyoung puts a hand on her neck, feeling the pain. That wakes her up. "A hickey. Right, he..." She blushes, seemingly aware of her surroundings again. "Oh, my, this is— so embarrassing! I'm so sorry."

Jeongyeon puts her pendant back and smiles softly. "No worries."

The session ends with Shinyoung apologizing for the confusion with a deep bow and red cheeks. She recalls getting very drunk and probably dreaming up the whole thing about being attacked. Jeongyeon smiles gently and guides her out of the building.

After that she returns to her office and sighs, exhausted.

"So?" Mr. Moon, her boss, is sitting on her chair when she walks in. "Dealt with?"

Jeongyeon stares daggers at him. "I hate how you keep making me do this instead of just killing the damn vamp."

He gets up with a grunt. "Yeah, well, we can't have everything we want, Jeongyeon."

"Where is my sister?" She follows him with her eyes, arms crossed.

"Working."

"Where?"

"Area 9." He rolls his eyes. "It's the middle of the day, Jeongyeon, you worry too much."

Jeongyeon punches her table, startling him. "You have no idea what it's like, so shut up."

Mr. Moon is about to argue, but Jeongyeon has that look in her eyes. The one he's seen many times before. It's not a good day to piss off his most prized vampire hunter.

"...I suggest you start filling in those papers." Is all he says before leaving.

Jeongyeon's hands tremble.

Getting a hold of herself, she finally finds her goddamn pen. She sits down, looks at the papers numbly, and groans. This was stupid. She should be out there getting rid of those abominations, not writing reports.

She looks at the old portrait of her family on her desk and sighs.

A bad day.

\--

"Okay, on a scale of one to ten," Nayeon grunts as she stands on her hands, Mina holding up her legs for stability. "How bad is my pose?"

"You're not very good at this, I gotta say." Mina replies.

"I work with numbers, Mina."

"Three." She lets her go and Nayeon falls.

"I'm never debuting." Nayeon says from the ground, breathing heavily.

Mina faces her, upside down. She pokes her forehead. "Yes, you are. My career depends on you, so don't even think about quitting."

Nayeon closes her eyes. "I knew I was just being used."

They laugh afterwards and Mina helps her up. Nayeon insists on trying again and again, and they keep it up until lunch time.

The roof is already their special place, so they go up after Mina grabs some soda. The weather is really nice and Nayeon looks happy today.

"Okay, vamp question." Nayeon says and Mina rolls her eyes fondly.

"Go on."

"Animal blood. Can you drink it?"

"Yes," She looks down. "But we usually have to kill the animal for a satisfying meal, so I tend not to."

"Oh no, now I'm sad." Nayeon frowns.

"You asked!"

"So human blood is what everyone prefers." Nayeon speaks like she's talking about something trivial. She doesn't stop to think about it much these days.

"Usually."

"Yikes." She looks at Mina. "Say, do you have any human questions?"

"...I was human once, Nayeon."

"Oh, yeah." Nayeon feels like an idiot, then remembers something. "By the way… how old are you?"

"Took you long enough to ask that." Mina teases. She leans back, both hands on the bench, and looks up at the sky.

Nayeon bites her lower lip. "You don't have to answer if—"

"I'm twenty-six."

"Oh." She didn’t expect for the answer to be so normal. "So... you were turned..." Nayeon feels awkward asking that, especially considering Sana's annoying jokes. She tried not to think about it.

"I was twenty when I was turned." Mina sounds distant. "It freaked me out at first, but..." She stops. "I was lucky, I guess."

"Huh?"

Mina hesitates, still avoiding Nayeon's gaze. She didn't want to get into this so early. Honestly, she never wanted to get into this, period. "Let's just say that vampires take care of each other, despite everything."

Nayeon is confused.

Mina gets up. "We should go back down."

It hits Nayeon that she never stopped to consider how it must feel to wake up one day and realize you need to drink human blood to survive. It must be incredibly jarring and lonely. Unless someone experienced was there to help you.

Nayeon wonders if Mina has a vampire family.

\--

The day passes and Nayeon has many questions, but she can't afford to think about them. She has songs and dance routines to memorize. Being an idol was hard.

She thinks about her conversation with Sana and the fact that she's not telling Mina about it. She would, after class.

"Mina, Nayeon, can I have a word, please?" Mr. Park calls them at the end of the day and the two promptly follow him. His office is still as big as it felt the first day.

"Well, I’ll cut to the chase." He smiles. "Your debut song is ready."

It's like everything else disappears.

"It's called 'Pigeon Blood' and it's an R&B song. You'll get your samples tomorrow and start working on the choreography. Any questions?"

Nayeon almost chokes at the song name. How ironic. "N-no, sir!"

"Thank you, Mr. Park." Mina bows elegantly and Nayeon's heart soars.

Nayeon completely forgets about Sana, and vampires, and how her life was still in danger. She was going to be an idol. Her dream was actually coming true.

Mina grabs her forearm when they start walking to Nayeon's home. "Are you alive?"

"No." She dissociates. "I'm an idol."

"You get used to the feeling." Mina grins, then stays quiet for a bit. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something."

"No, please don't break up with me, I'll get better at head stands!"

"You're ridiculous." Mina laughs and Nayeon likes hearing her laugh. "But seriously. It's about my... hunter friends." Mina continues and Nayeon stops joking to pay attention.  
  
"Oh, right. That was a thing." She remembers the things she wrote on her journal and feels a chill. "How is it going?"

"I'll try to meet them tomorrow. Well, one of them."

"And the other?" Nayeon assumed that the more hunters the better protected she would be.

"They are sisters, but very different from each other when it comes to vampire business." Mina sighs. "The younger will kill any Silver on sight. The older isn't as... extreme."

"And who are you meeting?" Nayeon expected an answer, but got a different one.

"The older sister."

"Oh." Nayeon thought about Mina's previous statement about vampires taking care of each other and let her mind wander.

Maybe it was hard for them to kill each other, after all.

"Are you upset?" Mina asks.

"N-no. Just surprised, I guess." She puts her hands in her pockets. "You... don't really want to kill Sana, do you?"

Mina doesn't answer, and that's says it all.

Maybe Nayeon wasn't fit to write about vampires, after all.

\--

Sana doesn't show up that night, and neither does any other vampire. Once Nayeon finally gets home, Mina smiles. "Well, see you tomorrow for the big debut song."

"Mina." Nayeon stops her. She needs to tell her about her conversation with Sana. Maybe this would change her mind.

But she stops. All that spite, rage, it's like it stayed inside her notebook. Nayeon doesn't feel like that anymore.

Deep down, she understands. Vampires were brutal and monstrous and evil.

But they were the only ones who understood each other.

"It's nothing." She shakes her head and steps back. She would let Mina deal with this situation in the way she saw fit. "I hope you can talk to your hunter. Maybe we can just... scare Sana a little."

Mina's chest swells with emotion and she bites her lower lip. "Yeah. She deserves to be scared for once."

Nayeon gives her a genuine smile.

\--

The first thing Mina and Nayeon think about their debut song is how sensual it is. When Mina started her idol career, her songs were all about innocent love and yearning, but now?

If she could blush, she would have.

"What do you think?" Mr. Park asks, smiling excitedly.

The two girls exchange looks, telepathically urging the other to speak first. Mina sighs at Nayeon's puppy eyes and decides to sacrifice herself.

"It's very different from what I've been doing until now." She says carefully.

"It's so hot." Nayeon can't hold herself back.

Mina kind of wants to die again, but Mr. Park looks delighted at the response. "That's good, then! I want you two to be bold and unique. The industry needs it."

"Of course." Mina nods, professionally. Nayeon sends the CEO a thumbs up and a smile; Mina nudges her with an elbow.

"Your dancing instructor will show you the choreo now." Mr. Park says, then remembers something. "Oh! I'd also like for you to come up with a name for your duo."

"A name?" Nayeon blinks.

"Well, people can't go around calling you 'Minayeon' now, can they? Be creative!" With Mr. Park’s last words, they leave for the dance practice room.

Mina is panicking a little, wondering what kind of dance will accompany _that_ song.

  
"Namina is better than Minayeon, anyway." Nayeon mutters as they enter the elevator and Mina rolls her eyes. That girl makes her less nervous. So silly.

It's not as bad as she thought. The dance is pretty simple, and they only have to grind on the floor once. The rest are slow movements accompanying the beat.

There is one particular move that concerns Mina, though.

One where Nayeon pretends to bite her neck from behind. The irony.

"Let's take a water break." The instructor says after teaching the girls the first verse. They're doing incredibly well and receiving compliments, so it boosts their morale.

Nayeon pokes Mina when they leave the room. "Oh, how the tables have turned."

"You. Quiet."

And because the universe loves to torture Mina, they soon arrive at the biting part of the choreography.

And Nayeon gets stuck.

"One more time. Nayeon, your timing is really off." The dance instructor points out. "You have to move behind her before the chorus ends."

She just nods.

She tries again, and again, and again. When she manages to get the timing right, her hands look awkward on Mina's chest. She wavers too much and doesn't touch her at all. It ruins the flow of practice.

"Alright," The instructor sighs, clearly frustrated. "Enough for today."

The two girls collapse near the mirror, breathing heavily. The instructor grabs his towel and extra shirt and walks past them. "I suggest you practice this part on your own. You two need to trust each other more for this to work."

"Yes, sir." They reply, sounding defeated.

The silence is heavy in the room after he leaves. Nayeon wants to say something, but is too ashamed of herself to start. She drinks some water, then lifts her gaze. "Mina—"

"Opals."

Nayeon stops. "Huh?"

"A name for our duo." Mina smiles gently. "Let's think of one together."

Nayeon knows she's trying to cheer her up and feels an incredible warmth in her chest. Mina really became so good at handling her.

"Okay." Nayeon turns her body so their knees are touching. "But Opals sucks."

"Rude!"

They laugh together and the air isn't so heavy anymore.

They go back and forth, throwing dumb names around, but don't manage to agree on one. Lunch time is over by then, but Nayeon isn't even hungry. She had a lot of fun.

Next class is singing.

Mina could get lost in Nayeon's voice every single day, if she let her.

"I think I'm starting to get used to the song." Nayeon says as she waits for Mina to change clothes. It's evening, and the two are alone in the bathroom. "I just wish the dance wasn't so... awkward."

"You're pose is all wrong." Mina replies. "That's not how you bite someone."

"Huh? Oh, come on, you're telling me there's a proper way to bite a neck?" Nayeon crosses her arms.

"Yeah, actually." Mina buttons up her shirt. "That's why you look so awkward in the mirror."

"That's dumb."

"Not trusting an actual vampire is dumb." Mina smirks.

"Fine, show me then." The words are out of her mouth before she can think, but the moment her brain catches up with it, Nayeon freezes.

Mina stops and looks at her, shirt still half-open. The silence is cutting.

"Okay." Mina says. She moves towards Nayeon, slowly.

Mina stops in front of her and they stare at each other for a second. Nayeon likes her golden eyes. They're not shining right now, but they're still mesmerizing. She always thought so.

Then, Mina chuckles. "Just kiddi—"

"Go on." It's a challenge. Nayeon hates losing.

This catches Mina completely off-guard, even more when Nayeon turns her back and moves her hair to the side so her neck is exposed.

It evokes something in Mina that she hates.

Nayeon looks over her shoulder. "So?"

Mina grabs her torso, fingers sliding on her pulse point. Mina's hold on her ribs is rough. Nayeon lets out a sound. It's wonderful and terrible all at once, and she has no idea if this feeling all over her body is due to some kind of vampire ability.

It's intoxicating.

Mina tips up her chin so Nayeon can watch herself in the mirror.

Mina gets close to her ear and speaks lowly. "Don't do this. Not to me, not to any other vampire."

Nayeon can only nod. She feels absolutely powerless right now. Mina sounds like someone else entirely.

"You have no idea how good you taste." Mina pushes herself back, then.

Mina steps away as far as the tiny bathroom allows her and finishes buttoning up her shirt. "I still have to meet the hunter, so let's go."

"Yeah. Sure." Nayeon's throat is dry. Her legs feel like jelly, but she manages to follow Mina once she's all done.

They don't talk much.

The way home is silent and Nayeon regrets everything. She knew how dangerous vampires could be considering everything Mina and Sana kept telling her, but she still risked herself like this. She was clearly in no position to joke around.

Their goodbye is bittersweet.

Mina leaves.

\--

Jeongyeon finishes signing her name on the last paper for the day and breathes out of relief. It took hours, but her desk is finally clean again. She reaches for her phone, but the door to her office opens before she can grab it.

"Seungyeon!" She smiles at her sister.

"Hey." Seungyeon smiles back, bending down to give Jeongyeon a half-hug. "Busy day?"

"Boring day. At least I'm done with the papers."

"Good job." She moves to her own desk, next to Jeongyeon's, and puts her coat on the chair. "You go home first today, Jeong. I have a meeting."

"A meeting? With whom?" When Seungyeon hesitates do answer, Jeongyeon knows something is up. They don't keep secrets from each other. "Sis, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Seungyeon sounds tired. "Look, I swear it's nothing dangerous. Trust me, okay?"

Jeongyeon doesn't like it.

"I do trust you," Jeongyeon lowers her voice and looks away. "I miss when you trusted me, too."

"Jeong, not today, ok? These last two days were tiring."

"I know that! I just—"

"Don't yell."

Jeongyeon stops. Her hand is shaking again. She takes a deep breath to calm down.

"Fine." Jeongyeon gets up, takes her bag, and walks to the door. "I'll leave dinner in the fridge."

"Jeong—" Seungyeon tries, but her sister leaves the office in a hurry. At least this time she didn't slam the door. "Goddammit, Jeong."

She has no time for this.

Mina was waiting.

\--

A hunter meeting a vampire wasn not as unusual as people thought; they did it all the time during the day. Meeting at night, however, was a bit riskier. But since both Mina and Seungyeon worked until sunset, it had to do.

Seungyeon walks into the restaurant and finds Mina right away. "Myoui."

Mina grins a little. "So formal."

"Protocol, mostly." Seungyeon replies, sitting down and pulling the napkin to her lap. "Hungry?"

"I already ate." It was a code. Vampires were taught how to talk to hunters from an early age. "I'm thirsty, though."

"Water?" Seungyeon asks.

"Orange juice."

Seungyeon calls the waiter and orders two drinks. Once he is gone, she resumes the conversation. "You were in a hurry to contact me."

"Yes."

"So?"

"There is a Silver I need to take care of."

Seungyeon's eyes shine. "Go on."

"Her name is Sana. She hangs around the border of Sectors 6 and 7. Apparently, they've expanded recently."

"Yes. It's chaotic." Seungyeon sighs, rubbing her temples. "You called me and not Jeong, so you don't want this Sana dead. Why?"

Mina then takes a piece of paper from her pocket and places it neatly on the table, pushing it towards the hunter. Seungyeon takes it, unfolding the paper. There is a simple sentence written on it.

_‘Because she's Jihyo's.’_

Silence.

"...I see." Seungyeon sounds distant, like her mind is going a thousand miles an hour. She folds the paper again, giving it back to Mina. "Thank you for calling me and not Jeong."

Mina nods. "Of course."

The drinks come. Seungyeon plays with the ice inside her cup. "Should I ask why you're messing with her coven?"

Mina doesn't answer.

"You do realize I'm going to be risking my life." Seungyeon continues. "What's in it for me?"

"Money." Mina says, simply. "And a few secrets from me that might help you out on your investigation."

"Oh?" Seungyeon grins. "And I thought we were so close, already."

"I'm closer with your sister." Mina jokes, but regrets it the moment Seungyeon stares daggers at her. "I'm sorry."

"Just... leave her out of this."

"Of course."

Seungyeon chugs down her juice, then puts the cup back down. "Fine. I’ll hurt this Sana enough so she can't hunt again. Deal?"

Mina hesitates for a second, but knows that she won't get anything better than this from a hunter. "Deal."

They shake hands. Sana's fate was in Seungyeon's hands now. It didn't sit well with Mina, despite her promising Nayeon that she would protect her. Mina couldn't do it alone.

They leave the restaurant with smiles and jokes, pretending to be good friends. It wasn't that hard.

"Mina." Seungyeon says before departing. "You know that if you end up leading me to _her_ , I'll be the one to stake that bitch."

Mina's heart constricts. She smiles. "I know."

Seungyeon nods and turns around without another word. Mina watches her back. It was a familiar sight.

She prayed that she was playing her cards right.

The last thing she wanted was for Jihyo to get involved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on twitter @niigoki_


	4. Chapter 4

It's a really hot day. Nayeon hates walking under the heat, especially when her stomach has been turning since yesterday. She was going to apologize to Mina today, hoping for the best.

She hates thinking that their relationship could change because of her insensitive actions.

Nayeon feels dizzy. It's really hot.

She shields her eyes from the sunlight as she waits to cross the street. More people come, surrounding her in a crowd, and Nayeon just wants to move away from the heat. Her head feels heavy and it starts to hurt.

Her breathing becomes erratic.

Her heart picks up speed.

Then, a blur.

\--

A voice in the distance calls to her. Everything is so dark. What happened?

"...iss..."

Nayeon frowns. What was that? She can't see.

"...ear me?"

The voice keeps talking. At some point, Nayeon realizes her eyes were closed. She opens them.

"Miss, can you hear me?"

The first thing she notices is the whiteness of everything. An unfamiliar ceiling. The smell of cleaning products. Nayeon squints her eyes.

"Miss."

She turns her face and sees a strange girl sitting by her side. Nayeon is lying down.

"You're awake!" The girl smiles.

Nayeon is still dizzy, but starts to panic. She's been around so many vampires the past few days that the first thing she assumes is that she's been captured by one.

She sits up straight and covers her neck with both hands. "I'll bite you back, get away!"

The girl blinks. "...Excuse me."

Slowly Nayeon’s brain starts to settle down and she realizes that she's in the hospital. The girl isn't dressed up as a nurse or anything, but she’s clearly been taking care of her. Nayeon remembers being on the street, and then...

"Did I faint?"

"Yes." The girl replies. "Heatstroke, most likely."

"Oh." She blushes and feels tired again.

"You should lie down. The ice packs will fall off if you sit up like this."

Nayeon notices that she's covered in said ice packs. That's why she was feeling so cold suddenly. "...Sorry."

"Don't worry." The girl bites her lower lip.

Nayeon sighs as she lies down and lets the ice cool her off. "Were you the one who helped me?"

"Oh, yes. I'm Chaeyoung. I'm actually a doctor." The girl says sheepishly.

"T-thank you." Nayeon feels even more embarrassed now. "God, I'm really a mess."

Chaeyoung hums.

"Say... when you covered your neck..." Chaeyoung starts, but a nurse walks into the room.

"Oh, she's awake!"

Nayeon gives her a thumbs up. "Doctor Chaeyoung saved me."

Chaeyoung laughs awkwardly. "It's just part of the job." She sounds frustrated about the interruption.

They give Nayeon an hour to rest and properly cool her body before letting her sit up. After that, she drinks a lot of water and insists on using her phone to tell her duo that she was going to be late.

"What do you do for a living?" Chaeyoung asks.

"I'm trying to debut." She sighs.

"Oh, that's tough." Chaeyoung chuckles. "I've taken care of many trainees, before. It always breaks my heart to see them going far past what their body can take."

"Yeah," Nayeon doesn't know why, but this girl makes her feel at ease. "Things have been... emotionally taxing."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Chaeyoung sits down again with a friendly posture. "I'm no therapist, but..."

"Oh, no, you don't have to listen to some random girl's problems. You already carried my unconscious ass to the hospital."

"The ambulance did that." Chaeyoung pouts.

If she wasn't a doctor, Nayeon would've pinched her cheeks. What was up with this adorable girl? "Maybe, but I troubled you enough already."

"I literally work here."

"...Look, I'm running out of excuses."

Chaeyoung grins. "Good."

"What were you going to ask about my neck?"

Chaeyoung stops and avoids her gaze. “Oh, just wondering why you said what you said. Something about biting, while covering your neck...”

“Oh, that?” Nayeon thinks quickly. “When I was unconscious I just... had a nightmare.”

“About?”

“Uh. My ex’s hickeys.”

“Oh.”

Silence.

"So that's what it was." Chaeyoung says slowly.

"Yes. A terrible experience."

"Hickeys."

"Yes." Nayeon nods.

"Nothing, like. Odd?"

"Like— like what?"

"I don't know. Like... biting. And necks."

"...Like, hickeys?"

"No, like— I mean, I guess?"

"Yes."

More silence.

"Well!" Nayeon drinks more of her water and finally swings her legs out of the stretcher, getting up. "This has been pleasant, but I really need to go. My partner is probably mad at me. More than she already was."

"S-sure! You should really rest for today. I'll give you a sick note." Chaeyoung gets up too.

Chaeyoung takes her to the exit herself, greeting other nurses and doctors on the way. She seems to be popular at the hospital. Nayeon wonders how old this girl is.

She also thinks about Mina and the scolding she will receive once she's back, and feels sad.

"Feel free to come by if you feel sick again." Chaeyoung smiles as the automatic doors open for Nayeon to leave.

"Thank you for everything, doctor. Really." Nayeon shakes hands with her and notices they are sweaty.

"Of course. And," Chaeyoung lowers her voice. "If you ever have more nightmares, you can come by, too. You know."

"Uh... sure."

Nayeon knows that she shouldn't be overthinking after almost dying on the heat, but she can't help it. That doctor was just weird, and from the way her life was going, she was probably associated with vampires as well.

"A vampire doctor...?" Nayeon mumbles on her own. The girl’s eyes didn’t seem particularly golden or silver, just normal dark brown. She could be using contact lenses, though.

Nayeon groans. She sounds crazy.

She really expected to hear Mina yelling for the first time once she arrived. There is no way she's not going to. Nayeon was an idiot yesterday, and now she got her worried. She deserved it.

Instead, she finds Mina pacing on the lobby. Once she sees Nayeon, she jumps to hug her.

"Are you ok??" Mina asks, moving back to cup Nayeon's cheeks. "Do you need anything?"

"I—" Nayeon just stares and feels Mina's thumbs caressing her skin. "Yeah. I'm good, just..."

"What?"

Suddenly there are tears in her eyes and she hugs Mina again, burying her face on the girl’s shoulder. "Sorry..."

"Sorry? Nayeon..."

"I'm sorry I was an idiot yesterday, and that you have to keep protecting me, and that I can't get the choreo right or think of a name for our group, and all I do is complain, and—" Nayeon rambles on and on, the weight of everything crashing down on her suddenly.

"Woah, stop." Mina chuckles, then hugs her warmly. "Drama queen."

Mina holds her until she's done sobbing. Nayeon hates being weak in front of people, so she pulls back and wipes her tears with the back of her hand. "Ok. I'm good."

"Good. It's weird having to comfort you."

"Jerk." She smiles, nonetheless. "The doc gave me a sick note." Nayeon gives Mina the paper with Chaeyoung’s writing on it.

"Heatstroke…” Mina reads it. “You should rest for today."

"But I don't want to lag behind."

Mina pokes her forehead. "Stop being stubborn. I'll go back to classes and help you out when you're good enough to come back. Stay home today."

Nayeon whines, but accepts. "Fine..."

They stare at each other for a bit longer. Mina’s face alone was enough to give Nayeon the energy she needed for the day.

"Before I go, did you..." Nayeon looks around and whispers. "Talk to your friend?"

"Yeah. She'll deal with Sana." Mina sounds distant. Her eyes catch people coming in. "I'll tell you all about it later, ok? Go rest."

"Alright... see you tomorrow." Nayeon almost kisses her cheek.

She wonders why showing affection to Mina was such a reflex. She had to control this.

\--

Chaeyoung can't stop thinking about her. The woman she rescued today – Nayeon was her name – definitely knew something. Her first reaction was to protect her neck. That means she's been attacked recently. That was the only explanation.

Or maybe Chaeyoung is just desperate.

"Doctor Son?" A nurse snaps her out of it. "The blood bags you requested have just arrived."

"Oh, thank you! I was afraid they wouldn't come today." Chaeyoung grins.

"I think that what you do is so inspiring." The nurse follows her, small stuttering steps, as if she’s right behind her favorite celebrity. "Using your resources to help those who can’t afford it."

"Of course. I try to take care of everyone." Chaeyoung’s smile wavers a little.

"No wonder everyone wants to be your friend. You inspire people to be better, Doctor Son."

"Thank you, Soobin." She laughs a little. "I need to take these bags to the other hospital now, if you'll excuse me."

Chaeyoung puts the 60 blood bags inside a crate and carries it along the hallway. She tries not to look rushed, smiling politely at her colleagues on the way.

"Have a good evening, Dr. Son!" The janitor waves at her.

"You too, Mr. Kim." She responds in kind, putting the crate in the trunk of her car.

She was in a hurry, so of course driving was torture. Every sign is red, there's traffic everywhere, and an accident blocked one of the streets she needed to take. Chaeyoung groans loudly.

At last, she arrives. The crate feels heavier this time around, but she manages to carry it upstairs.

She doesn't even need to ring the doorbell; her roommate is already there, waiting. "Did you get it??"

Chaeyoung passes the crate to her. "There's only 60 of them, so don't--" But the girl tears one of the bags with her teeth before she can finish. "Tzuyu! What did I just say!"

Her other roommate grabs Tzuyu's waist and pulls her back before she made a bloody mess on the floor outside their apartment door. "I tried to hold her back, but she could smell the bags from downstairs."

"Can't really blame her... Silvers shouldn't go a day without feeding, let alone three." Chaeyoung sighs.

Tzuyu finishes her first bag and reaches for another one, but feels the girl holding her back. "Get off of me, Dahyun!"

"Can you please control yourself for one second until we reach the kitchen?" Dahyun pulls her again and Tzuyu grunts, but follows her.

Chaeyoung rolls her eyes with a ghost of a smile.

After two bags, Tzuyu's silver eyes stop shining and she calms down considerably. She's now sitting calmly at the kitchen table, sucking on her third bag like it's a baby bottle. Chaeyoung puts the other bags in the fridge and sits next to her with a sigh. "Better?"

"Hmmhm."

The doctor looks at Dahyun then, who is cleaning the blood Tzuyu spilled on the floor. "What about you? Not hungry?"

Dahyun swallows, nervously. "I'll be there in a bit. Can't let people see this mess."

"Since when are you this clean?" Chaeyoung jokes and Dahyun pokes her tongue at her.

Dahyun finally joins them and Tzuyu is just chewing at the plastic now with heavy eyelids. Chaeyoung smiles fondly at her. "Gross."

Dahyun takes one bag for herself, tearing open the plastic tip. Once she starts sucking like it’s a bag of juice, everything feels a lot calmer. Chaeyoung watches as Dahyun's eyes start to shine, golden and beautiful.

She grins at her two vampire roommates, peacefully.

"I think I met someone else who knows about vampires, today." Chaeyoung speaks as soon as the two finish their meal.

"Really? Like... a normal person or just some weirdo?" Dahyun asks.

"She looked normal. I saved her from heatstroke."

"A hero." Tzuyu yawns.

"Sleepy?" Chaeyoung asks.

"I just woke up." Tzuyu rubs her eyes. She looks like a baby. Chaeyoung pats her hair.

"I'm sorry I took so long with the bags."

"S'okay." Tzuyu smiles lazily. "Sorry I spilled blood on the floor."

"It's ok."

"You clean it next time." Dahyun pouts.

"What about this girl you met?" Tzuyu asks, deflecting the scolding.

"Her name is Nayeon. I don't know, she didn't tell me anything. I'm probably wrong." Chaeyoung looks down. Dahyun and Tzuyu exchange looks.

"You really want to meet another human like you, don't you Chaeng?" Dahyun asks.

"I guess. It's just... kinda lonely. Not that you two aren't great or anything! I just wish..."

"That you could talk to another person about being friends with vampires without sounding like a lunatic?" Dahyun grins.

"Yeah, that. Thanks, Dubs."

"Why don't you talk to her again?" Dahyun puts a hand on top of Chaeyoung's. "Try to be friends. Who knows, you have good intuition."

"But don't forget about us." Tzuyu leans her head on Chaeyoung's shoulder. "I get lonely."

Chaeyoung chuckles. "Of course I won't." She cherishes their company too much to even think about forgetting them. "But enough about me, how was your day?"

"I was paid to babysit three cats today, so it was great." Dahyun smiles. "They're planning to call me again tomorrow. Is this heaven?"

"You're so cute, the hell." Chaeyoung laughs. "And you, Tzu? What will you do tonight? Same as always?"

Tzuyu nods. "Stream. Same as always."

"I'm honestly surprised with the number of people who tune in at 3:00am to watch you play League." Chaeyoung says.

"Gamers don't sleep."

"This girl you met today isn't a gamer, is she?" Dahyun asks.

Chaeyoung frowns. "No!" She stops. "I hope."

Tzuyu looks offended.

"Well, I'm sure it will work out." Dahyun sounds honest and Chaeyoung is thankful despite the teasing.

"I'm gonna make dinner for me, now." Chaeyoung gets up and stretches her muscles. She looks at Tzuyu. "Don't make too much noise."

She salutes. "Yes, sir."

Dahyun leaves for the living room to watch some TV and Chaeyoung grabs some food. After eating, she goes to the bathroom to soak in the bathtub and think about life.

She thinks about the fact that she lies to the hospital to be able to feed her friends, and sighs. Thinks about the two vampires living with her. Thinks about the night she found a silver-eyed girl in an alley, bloody and beaten, crying and grunting and completely broken. And about her best friend, who one day came back home and bit her. Her eyes were different. Golden. Chaeyoung hadn't freaked out as much as she probably should back then. She wonders why. She wonders if Nayeon had freaked out the first time she met a vampire.

Chaeyoung feels like a lunatic most of the time. Dahyun was right.

She just wanted to meet another lunatic like her.

\--

Nayeon stares at the notebook, biting her nails. She reads the words she just wrote carefully, wondering if she should change anything.

_I wish I could understand Silvers more. Sana didn't attack me again after our conversation. Is it because Mina is protecting me? I don't know._

_It still doesn't make sense. If Silvers are that much stronger than Goldens, Mina alone shouldn't pose a threat to her. Unless she doesn't want to hurt Mina. I need more history. More context. I'm completely out of the loop._

She stares at her phone. Sana's number is saved in there.

Nayeon looks away, scratches her head and grunts. She's not going to call her, that would be stupid. She doesn't need Sana's help for anything. She should be stoked that Sana isn't following her anymore.

...Right?  
  
Nayeon stops.

She reaches for the phone, slowly.

Her doorbell rings suddenly and she jumps, startled. Her phone falls under the bed. "Shit—"

Nayeon gets up and goes to the door, but stops. Wait, that couldn't possibly be Sana, right? She didn't even type in her number.

"Who is it?" Nayeon asks, nervously.

"It's me." Mina.

It's like the world is lifted from her shoulders and she sighs, relieved. God, she was really turning paranoid. She opens the door. "Hey!"

Mina lifts the plastic bag that she's carrying. "Brought you some snacks."

Nayeon's heart jumps. "You didn't have to..."

"A happy duo is a healthy duo." Mina winks and walks in.

They end up in the kitchen, with Nayeon nibbling on the chocolate Mina brought, and Mina drinking some cranberry juice she bought for herself.

"The first day we met you were drinking cranberry juice, too." Nayeon says. "You're such a trickster vampire, aren't you?"

Mina laughs.

"Red beverages are my favorite, I can't lie." Mina says, staring at her cup.

"Why?"

"They're pretty. I think it's a universal thing that all vampires' favorite color is red."

"Not for the taste, then?"

"Oh, no." Mina chuckles. "I can't actually taste anything."

"Oh. That's sad." Nayeon feels comfortable enough to be honest with Mina now. "Why do you drink so much, then?"

Mina shrugs. "I just like to pretend I'm a normal girl, most times." Then she smiles. "Also, cranberry juice feels nice on the tongue."

It hurts a bit. Nayeon reaches for Mina's hand without thinking and rubs her thumb on her cold skin. "Sounds hard."

Mina lets her eyes travel Nayeon's features. "I'm used to it."

Nayeon hums and stays there, close. Mina protects her so much; Nayeon wants to do the same, somehow.

"Anyway, about the hunter." Mina removes her hand from Nayeon's hold, clearing her throat. "She will deal with Sana."

"Oh." Nayeon misses the touch already. "How, exactly?"

"She won't kill her. Just... make her unable to hunt again."

Nayeon frowns. "Wait, what?"

"Hunters have two ways to deal with vampires. They either stake them, or ruin them in a way that they can't hunt again." Mina explains, casually.

"Isn't that the same as killing them, though?"

"Not really. If they're not alone in the world, their friends can bring them food."

"Is she?" Nayeon asks.

"What?"

"Alone in the world?"

Mina quiets down. Nayeon notices her grip tightening around the cup, which only confirms that they do have history. She wants to know so badly. But she can't pry like this.

"No." Mina eventually speaks. "Not at all."

Nayeon feels like she should change subjects, but the whole thing still bugs her. She doesn't understand why she feels this way. Sana wanted to claim her. Nayeon should be glad that there is a hunter on her trail now.

"Mina." But she's not. "What does _'claiming'_ someone means?"

"Exactly what it means." Mina sounds weird. "She wants to make you hers."

"But how?"

"Biting you." Her voice is sharp. "The first bite is for blood, only. She wants to feed. The next ones are for pleasure."

"Pleasure...?"

"Yours." Mina huffs. "Vampire bites are addicting, Nayeon."

Nayeon feels a chill down her spine, but she can't stop wanting to know more. "Addicting how?"

"Addicting in a way that you'll be thinking about her and searching for her on your own, in due time." Mina finally looks at her. "Look, I don't really want to talk about this."

"...Sorry."

The silence is heavy and Nayeon once again feels like she overstepped. But didn't she have the right to know, if her life was on the line? Mina had so many secrets that it was infuriating, sometimes.

Sana's words ring in her head.

_Human curiosity works best when stimulated._

"Fine, we won't talk about Sana." Nayeon decides. "But can I ask one last thing about vampires?"

"Shoot."

"Goldens turn people into Goldens while Silvers create Silvers?"

"No." Mina shakes her head. "It's random. Silvers and Goldens can create both."

"...Oh."

That was unexpected.

\--

Seungyeon walks down the street, both hands in the pockets of her long coat as she hums a song. The moon hovering above her head is big and bright, bathing the abandoned street in a somber, but beautiful look.

She turns on a small alley and smirks when she hears steps behind her. The alley led to a dead end; she was very aware. Once she reaches the tall brick wall, she turns around and leans on it, waiting for the thing following her to show up.

It doesn't take long, and soon she comes face-to-face with shiny silver eyes. "Are you lost?" The eyes ask.

"No really." Seungyeon takes her hands off her pockets, holding two guns. "Are you?"

The vampire realizes who he's dealing with a moment too late. Seungyeon shoots his leg first, and the bullet – a silver cross – passes right through it like his leg was melted butter.

He tries to scream, but Seungyeon pushes herself off the wall and grabs his neck, muffling his voice. The next thing she does is throw him on the wall, shooting two more crosses on his arms, pinning him to the bricks like Jesus on the cross.

Then she grabs her stake gun.

"Let's talk." She aims the stake gun at the vampire's chest. He's shaking from the pain and pure fear from being caught. "I'll be brief. Are you part of a coven?"

He just nods, whimpering.

"Alright. A Silver named Sana. Jihyo's coven. Rings any bells?"

He stays still.

Seungyeon pushes the stake painfully on his skin. "I asked a question."

"I d-don't—"

"Do you have a bondmate?" The raw fear on his face answers the question for her. "Wouldn't she be sad to realize her partner isn't coming back from the hunt?"

"P-please—"

"Answer me."

"I don't— I don't know a S-Sana!"

"Hm. You know Jihyo, though, right?" He nods. "Are you part of her coven?"

"N-no, ma'am."

"Is your bondmate part of her coven?"

"..."

Seungyeon smirks. "Oh, she is. That works for me."

"What are you—"

Then, she pulls the trigger.

The vampire turns to dust immediately, only his clothes remaining. Seungyeon puts her gun back in her pocket and grabs a piece of paper and a pencil she’s been carrying. With a nice handwriting, she leaves a note on top the discarded shirt.

She leaves, humming a song again. The moon is still beautiful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on twitter @niigoki_


	5. Chapter 5

Sana arrives at the scene a few minutes before sunrise. A circle of vampires whispers and exchanges concerned gazes, clearly restless at the unsettling scene before them. Sana pushes past them with her elbows.

"What happened?"

One of them point to the person at the center of the circle. She's clinging to a shirt and sobbing uncontrollably.

"Oh, no." Sana doesn't need explanations. "They got Hyunwoo?"

"Jaehee was at the coven when she felt it. She started to run and we followed her here." One of the vampires say, somberly.

"Fucking hunters."

"That's not all. There was a note," He continues. "It's for you."

Sana yanks the paper from his hands and moves away to read it by the moonlight.

_'To: Sana_

_You're the one I want. Meet me at the border of Sections 3 and 4. I'll keep sending you notes until you do.'_

Short and simple, branded by a hunter. Sana tears the note in half.

"Sana? What do we do?" One of the vampires asks once she returns.

"You do nothing. I'll deal with this."

"...We should tell Jihy-"

"Jihyo is abroad. No one is telling her anything." Sana's eyes shine with the strength of her voice. "You take Jaehee home, okay?"

"But-"

"Dowoon. Do as I say." Sana checks her phone. The sun was about to rise. She sighs. "Drag her out of here, she'll keep crying until the sun burns her to a crisp."

With that said, Sana jumps on the roof of a building, where she can see the city from above. It calms her.

\--

Nayeon hears the ringing, but feels like she's dreaming. It gets louder as she slowly wakes up, and she moves her arm from under the covers to grab her phone. She grunts when the light hits her eyes and she checks the time.

Who could be calling her at five in the morning?

"Hello...?" Nayeon's voice is hoarse from sleep.

"Did I wake you up, Princess?" The voice is familiar.

Nayeon sits up and frowns. "What?"

"I didn't mean to. Just wanted to let you know something. For your journal."

It finally hits her. "Sana?"

Sana chuckles. "It's me, Nay."

"What do you want?" Nayeon should be anxious, but right now she's just annoyed. "It's five in the fucking—"

"Do you know what happens to a vampire when they're staked?"

The interruption is brusque and Nayeon pauses, her heart picking up speed. Tentatively, she answers. "...They die?"

"They turn to dust. Disappear from this world without a single trace. It's worse than death."

Nayeon swallows dry. "That's--"

"A hunter is after me. I think you had something to do with it." Sana giggles. "I'm not mad, or anything. Kind of impressed, honestly."

"I..." Nayeon has no idea what to say.

"I can't disappear, though. Someone is waiting for me."

Sana's voice trembles for a bit and Nayeon's heart clenches. It's heartbreaking, and she hates it. She shouldn't feel bad for Sana. But a part of her wants to soothe her worries, tell her that the hunter won't kill her, just hurt her.

She almost laughs at how shitty that sounds.

"What are you going to do?" Nayeon asks, finally.

"Me? I'll keep on living." Sana smiles. "I've been around for too long to die because of you."

"I—"

"I wish I could've tasted you, though." She chuckles. "Before fighting this hunter. Oh, well."

Nayeon doesn't get angry. The only thing that comes to mind is her vampire journal. She rubs her eyes; they were a bit wet. "I'll be sure to write about you on my journal."

Sana's voice is gentle. "Thanks. It's comforting to know you're writing it." She stretches. "Sun is almost up. Gotta go."

Sana hangs up and Nayeon stares at the darkness. This girl toyed with her from day one, wanted to drink her blood, and was now going to try to kill a hunter. Mina's friend.

Nayeon wonders if things couldn't be solved without casualties. She realizes that they can't.

\--

Mina makes her way to the company calmly. She isn't late, but her head is filled with thoughts; mostly about Nayeon. She shakes her head and tries to focus on her career.

She decided that she wouldn’t answer vampire questions anymore, at least not until they debut.

The train stops to pick up more passengers. Mina is standing up because of the crowd, so she tries to move to the side a little when people come in.

Someone accidentally bumps into her and Mina turns to apologize. "Sorr—" She freezes when she sees the person's face. "Jeongyeon."

"Mina." Jeongyeon stares at her for a second too long. The hunter looks more tired than the last time she saw her. It worries Mina.

"I didn't know you took this train." Mina pretends she hasn't noticed, though. It's not her place anymore.

"Just for today." Jeongyeon looks away.

"I see." Mina replies. They remain silent afterwards, unable to stand apart due to the people around them. Mina feels Jeongyeon's arm against hers. It's warm, still.

There is a knot in her throat at the unfamiliarity of everything. She knows that Jeongyeon feels the same.

It's lonely.

The train eventually arrives at Mina's stop and she has to leave. Coincidentally, Jeongyeon has to get out as well. Despite not talking, they still walk side by side. Mina can't help but to think how this moment summarizes their relationship. She nearly smiles, but it's sad.

"Do you go this way?" Mina asks when they arrive at a corner.

"No, the other one."

"Oh. Goodbye, then." She bows slightly, like a stranger, and turns to continue her way.

"Mina." Jeongyeon calls for her and she stops. "Have you... talked to Seungyeon lately?"

Mina looks at this girl she used to know so well and sees a desperate plea, buried under layers of trauma. She looks so old, but her soul is that of a child clinging to her sister for dear life. It's the only family she has left.

"I haven't." It physically hurts to lie.

"...Okay. Thank you." Jeongyeon nods in response and Mina almost tells her the truth. But she doesn't. She can't hurt Jeongyeon more than she already has.

The two part ways without another word. It's really hot out. Mina tries to think about Nayeon again. It hurts less.

\--

Nayeon is already warming up when Mina arrives at the dance practice room. She blinks in surprise; usually she gets there first.

"Morning." Mina says.

Nayeon turns around. "Hey, morning."

There are many unspoken words between them. Mina makes a decision right then.

"Alright, here's an idea." She sits on the floor in front of Nayeon and waits for her partner to do the same. "We can't work properly with so many things going through our heads. So, let's focus on us. I won't talk about vampires, you won't ask about them, and we'll work hard to debut."

Nayeon averts her gaze, looking hesitant. Like there’s something she wants to tell her.

Mina takes Nayeon's hands in between hers. "I really think we can have a wonderful career together. We work well, we understand each other, and your voice is beautiful. We can do this, Nayeon. What do you say?"

Nayeon finally looks up to meet Mina’s gaze. She stares for a moment and takes a deep breath. "Okay."

Mina smiles and then Nayeon hugs her suddenly. She buries her head on her duo's shoulder and exhales. "Okay. We can do this. Together."

Mina nods. "We can."

When Nayeon pulls back, her eyes are shining, and Mina sees galaxies in them. She wants to drift away in that gaze.

They sing and dance and compose like never before. Nayeon manages to get the hard parts of the choreo right and Mina praises her fake bite. They eat at the cafeteria for once, abandoning the roof. It's great.

Nayeon doesn't think about Sana.

Mina doesn't think about Jeongyeon.

\--

"I'll buy you dinner if you answer this one." Seungyeon breaks the silence from their office.

Jeongyeon lifts her gaze from her report. "You always buy me dinner."

"Don't ruin this, I'm bored."

"Fine, what is it?"

"What's the best thing about Switzerland?"

"Here we go."

"Come on, try to answer." Seungyeon grins.

"Uh... I don't know, neutrality?" Jeongyeon tries her best to let her sister know how dumb she thinks the answer will be, but fails at hiding a smile of her own.

"Nope."

"Then what is it?"

"I don't know, but the flag is a big plus."

Jeongyeon throws a pencil at her, laughing. "You're ridiculous."

"And you laughed for the first time in weeks, so I win." Seungyeon catches the pencil with her insane reflexes.

Jeongyeon shakes her head, going back to her report. She feels lighter with Seungyeon around.

Her heart soon feels heavy again; like many times before when Seungyeon and her had fun. It never lasted long before she reminisced better days.

Jeongyeon looks at the portrait of her family. "I met Mina today, coming to work."

Seungyeon stops writing. "Oh. How is she?"

"Same as always." Jeongyeon lets out a breathy chuckle. "Of course."

"Of course." Seungyeon repeats. "Did you manage to talk to each other for more than five seconds?"

"Not really."

"Same as always." Seungyeon closes her eyes, relieved. She didn't want Jeongyeon to know.

"She's still trying to debut, I think." Jeongyeon talks again. "I hope things go well for her."

Seungyeon can't hold off a smile. "Look at you."

"What?"

"Talking about Mina again. Without hostilities or rage. It's refreshing."

Jeongyeon feels her cheeks redden. "Shut up."

Seungyeon throws the pencil back at Jeongyeon, who catches it easily. Both sisters poke their tongues out childishly, then giggle. They return to work after that.

Seungyeon internally sighs. She was going to cripple a Silver tonight. She needed to do it right and come back home.

"Do you think it's lonely?" Jeongyeon asks suddenly, snapping Seungyeon out of her thoughts.

"What is?"

"To be a vampire." Jeongyeon struggles with the words. "And still have connections with humans. Realizing you will outlive all of your loved ones. Forever."

"...Probably."

There is silence and Seungyeon can tell exactly what her sister is thinking. She won't push her to open up, pour out her emotions for everyone to see. Jeongyeon was past this. But Seungyeon can hope.

"Do you think that's why she left when she turned?" Jeongyeon says. It's sad.

"I don't know," Seungyeon shouldn't let this get to her, but it still does, a little. "It's not like she talked to us before vanishing."

"When that happened I just... wanted to kill all vampires on sight." Jeongyeon mutters.

"Yeah." Seungyeon shrugs. "It was a mess."

The past would always haunt them, Seungyeon knew, but she knew Jeongyeon hurt the most. It was hard for Seungyeon. From the moment she was born, she just wanted to protect her baby sister.

But then vampires killed their family, and the girl Jeongyeon loved turned into one.

"Sorry, I didn't want to bring the mood down." Jeongyeon stretches on her chair.

"It's fine. I have more bad jokes for that." Seungyeon grins.

"Please, don't."

"How do poets say hello?"

"Hnng."

"Hey, haven't we metaphor?"

"I hate you so much." She didn't.

Night falls quickly and Mr. Moon calls for the Yoo sisters. With the Silvers expansion, they needed a task force to ensure that the safe areas were secured. Jeongyeon and Seungyeon would work in separate units. Jeongyeon just huffs at that. At least her boss was sending her on missions again.

They salute him, and leave for the hunt.

"See you at home." Seungyeon hugs Jeongyeon before parting.

"Bet I can stake more vamps than you." Jeongyeon teases.

"Oh, it's on."

The little bet makes Seungyeon less nervous. It's a shame that Mina asked her not to kill Sana, but she could live with her sister's victory for once.

Seungyeon and her team arrive at their spot of action. Being the leader had its perks, so when Seungyeon tells the other hunters that she will patrol alone for a while, no one bothers to question her.

She leaves the group to meet up with Sana, adrenaline in her veins.

\--

The border of Sections 3 and 4 isn't that large, and Seungyeon knows that if Sana wants to meet her, she will find her soon enough. If not, Seungyeon would just have to keep killing her friends and sending her notes until she did.

She steps into the zone, hands in her pockets.

The chill down her spine alerts her of the vampire's presence. She can't see her, so she gets ready to act once she jumps her.

"So, you're the one who called me." Sana's voice comes from every side. Seungyeon can't pinpoint her.

"That’s me."

"Not my type."

"You hurt my feelings." Seungyeon keeps her hands in the pockets of her long coat, eyes darting everywhere, trying to find the creature.

"Sorry, murderers are rock bottom on my list."

Seungyeon laughs. "Says the vamp. Got it."

"Oh, but Miss Huntress! We just want to eat!"

"You're a funny one. I rarely meet Silvers who aren't scared shitless of hunters." Seungyeon is amused.

Sana's laugh echoes through the houses. "Oh, gods. You really have no idea who I am, do you?"

"Can't say I really care."

"I'll make sure you remember." The voice is closer.

Seungyeon turns around, feeling a gust of wind behind her. There's no one there. "Are you going to hide like a coward the whole night?"

"Tell me, before I feed off of you. Who sent you after me?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Seungyeon figures that Mina won't want to be exposed.

"I do, very, very much!"

Seungyeon takes one hand off her pocket, revealing her stake gun. "Come find out."

Then, there is a breath in her ear. "I will."

It happens too fast. Seungyeon widens her eyes and moves to the side before Sana's nails can pierce her torso. It stings.

The other hand in her pocket reveals another gun, pointing behind her. Sana notices a second before the silver cross hits her skin. Both jump away from each other, panting heavily.

Sana's silver eyes are incredibly shiny. She's using her full power.

Seungyeon smirks. "Hello."

Sana doesn't seem to be in the mood to talk anymore and lungs at Seungyeon at full speed. The hunter's reflexes allow her to move to the side, but Sana grabs her leg at a last second, throwing her violently against a concrete wall on the other side of the street.

There is no time for Seungyeon to feel the pain -- and probably a broken rib -- before flashy fangs nearly land on her shoulder.

With her thumbs, she opens up the guns' slots and points them to Sana's eyes, spraying garlic powder over her face. Sana screeches and falls back.

Seungyeon shoots at her then, not stakes, but more silver crosses. Sana vanishes into thin air before they hit.

Seungyeon tries to get up. It hurts to breathe, but she manages. There is blood on the wall. She takes a moment to get angry.

Mina never told her Sana was this strong.

She realizes that the blood was coming from Sana's scratches earlier and feels her skin pulsating. It's hot, and if she doesn't treat it, it will get infected soon.

But she had barely touched Sana yet. Seungyeon wasn't leaving before getting her job done.

"Come out!" Seungyeon yells, then hisses at how much it hurts. "Bitch."

Sana reappears in the form of a kick right on her ribs, coming absolutely out of nowhere. Seungyeon flies through the air, but still manages to shoot on her direction. A cross hits the vampire's shoulder.

If she hadn't broken a rib before, she had now. Seungyeon screams as she hits the ground, but forces herself to get up. She couldn't die. She had Jeongyeon to live for.

Sana buries two fingers inside her bloody arm and takes the crosses out of her flesh. It wasn't nice to see.

Sana doesn't move again and Seungyeon has no idea why. Then, she looks at her eyes. They were opaque and Sana kept blinking.

She couldn't see. Sana was probably guiding herself by sound.

Seungyeon takes this opportunity to aim at the vampire's legs with a shaky hand. She shoots, but she was too far; Sana reacts to the sound before the shot lands. She jumps away and lunges again. Seungyeon can't possibly take another hit.

Without thinking, she tips her whole body back, hitting the ground. Sana doesn't see it and passes right through her. Seungyeon lifts her arm up and tips her jaw to the sky so she can see Sana upside down. She shoots and keeps her finger on the trigger. Several crosses fly over to the vampire.

She knows she's hit her when Sana lets out a blood-curling scream.

The scratches on Seungyeon's abdomen feel like they're on fire. Her vision starts to blur, but she needs to see what happened to the vampire. All that she manages to catch before Sana disappears with a jump is the entirety of Sana's right arm covered in silver crosses.

The silence after the battle is jarring. Seungyeon's breathing is ragged and she's starting to feel delirious. She needs help to get up. With the last bit of strength she has, she presses the emergency button on her wristband. If there was a hunter around, they would find her.

Seungyeon waits. How long does she have? Not much, from the way she can barely feel her left side anymore. Her arm is numb, and it's spreading. She wonders if she'll go to Hell, after all.

Suddenly, a distant, familiar voice muffled in the back.

Jeongyeonnie.

Yep, that's her.

"Don't you dare." Jeongyeon's voice is close and muffled. She's crying. Seungyeon would probably be too if she found her sister in such conditions. "You're not dying on me. Not you. You hear me?"

Seungyeon is moving. An ambulance? She feels really tired.

She closes her eyes for a bit.

\--

Sana staggers through the alleys, grunting like a feral beast, holding onto her arm. It feels like it's on fire. She hits her shoulder on the wall, tumbles over a trash can, but keeps moving. She had to get to her coven. Her eyes are still blurred. She can't see shit.

Once she smells the familiar scent of candles and moist wood, she knows she's reached it. Sana kicks the front door down, startling the vampires in the room.

"Sana?" One of them, Yujin, asks confused.

"TEAR IT OFF."

"W-what—"

Sana grabs her by the collar. "RIP IT OFF. RIGHT NOW."

Yujin sees the crosses melting the flesh of her arm and nearly pukes. She nods to the other vampires, encouraging them to leave the room.

Once they're all gone, Yujin grabs Sana's arm, careful not to touch the crosses.

Then, she pulls.

Sana’s scream is ear-splitting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on twitter @niigoki_


	6. Chapter 6

"Good night, everyone." Tzuyu says as she sits down on her chair, headphones on, microphone working. "Sorry for the wait. How are you?"

The chat starts popping up with countless comments. Tzuyu smiles as she reads them. The people who watched her stream were so nice.

_'Hello to the best streamer here'_

"Oh, you think I'm the best? Thank you so much." Tzuyu grins shyly, and scrolls down.

_'Watching your stream instead of studying!'_

"Please do study soon, it's very late. I hope you do well in school." Tzuyu giggles. "But thank you."

_'Good night to you too <3'_

Tzuyu tries to do a finger heart. "I never understood this gesture too well. Is it like this?"

_'play with Ninja'_

"A ninja? You want me to play with Shen? Ok, I will." She clicks on the character on the screen. "I'm not very good with him, though."

_'Yaaaaaasss Tzuyu stream PogChamp'_

"I wonder how you create these funny emojis. Dahyun told me that the internet is very creative." Tzuyu laughs. "I like it."

_'Hi Tzuyu looking beautiful as always'_

"T-thank you." She traces the scars on her face. "You're too kind."

_'QUEEEEN i love you your streams make me so happy <3'_

"A queen should wear a crown," Tzuyu looks around the room and bends over to reach for a paper crown on the floor. "Chaeyoungie got this one from the Burger King. I'll wear it tonight, then."

_'Tzuyu, you're so cool! '_

"I think you liked my crown. I will be a ninja queen for Shen." Tzuyu moves the mouse to set her runes in the game. "What runes does he use, I wonder... oh well."

_'will you ever play heimer jungle again :^) love you queen <3'_

"Next game, I will."

_'I love you Queen Tzuyu!'_

"The ninja queen loves you too." She smiles. "This was silly, what I just said. But I think you like silly things, or else you wouldn't be watching me."

_'Pls play Vlad top'_

Tzuyu bites her lip. "Don't want to. Vlad scares me.”

The game starts, so she stops reading comments. "I'll be playing now. Hopefully I can reach Diamond tonight. Shen will help me."

The characters start fighting onscreen and Tzuyu looks focused. "Oh, this isn't good. My team is very distracted."

She dies. "Ah."

Her team starts to argue on the game chat. Tzuyu frowns. "It's barely been five minutes. I think I will mute them."

She types. _'I will mute you now, ok? Sorry.'_

"That feels better. Let's go, Shen." She keeps playing, then giggles. "I'm very bad with Shen, after all."

Her team loses after 23 minutes and Tzuyu sighs. "I'm sorry, Shen. Your queen lost the kingdom this time." She removes the paper crown. "My legs are uncomfortable. Hold on, everyone."

Tzuyu takes off her headphones and reaches down to remove her prosthetic legs. "Oh, better. Ok, I will try Heimerdinger jungle like I did yesterday. He was a good jungle." She puts her headphones back on and shifts to find a comfortable position. Then, she sees a comment from one of her earliest fans. "Oh, CranberryJuice20, haven't seen you in a while. How are you?"

_'I've been busy! I couldn't sleep tonight so I decided to log in. Your streams always calm me down <3'_

"I missed seeing you here. I hope you get to sleep soon." Tzuyu sets the runes for the character. "Everyone, please don't stay awake until late, ok? Be good people."

Tzuyu smiles when she manages to help her team. They praise her in the chat. "It's rare for others to say good things in this game, but it's nice when it happens. These little moments are precious to me."

She dies after helping again. "Oh. At least I was useful to them."

This time, her team wins. Tzuyu swings her one knee back and forth, happy. "When people are nice to each other and work together, things go well. Even with Heimerdinger jungle."

_'You did well!'_

"Thank you, Cranberry. I'm confident tonight." Tzuyu sends a thumbs-up to the camera.

She plays five more games, and before she notices, it's already four in the morning. "It's quite late. I wonder if the people playing don't have things to do later."

_'Don't you?'_

"Me? Not really. My prosthetics have been hurting a lot, so I can't walk much."

_'Can't your doctor adjust them?'_

"She's been trying to get new ones, but it's... complicated." Tzuyu thinks about how Chaeyoung got those cheap prosthetics by lying to the hospital and her heart feels heavy. "I'll be ok, though. It's not like I have anywhere to go."

Tzuyu checks the clock. The sun would rise soon. "I need to go. I couldn't reach Diamond tonight, but I got a bit closer. Little by little, things work out with good people around you." She hums. "I think I will read a few more comments before going."

_'Stayed up late for this! Worth!'_

"It's ok to stay up late if the things you're watching make you happy." Tzuyu giggles.

_'seeing you play and your reactions are just so pure for this world'_

"Pure? I think they're just different from what you usually see. Thank you."

_'Rest well Queen Tzuyu!!'_

"I will avenge my ninja kingdom another day. You rest well too." She waves at the screen with a gentle smile.

_'Thanks for streaming tonight!! You'll get diamond next time!!'_

"I believe so too. I hope I can get my team to think positively with me."

_'Love your way at looking at negative things and making them positive!'_

Tzuyu smiles. "Try thinking positively as well, if you can. I'm sure you'll be helping a lot of people you don't know." She thinks of Chaeyoung and Dahyun and places a hand over her heart. "It's magical."

_'Why are you always up so late? You a vampire or something? Love you btw '_

Tzuyu scratches her cheek and looks to the side. "If I was a vampire I would be out hunting at this time. I think. I don't know, that's just... a guess." She shakes her head. "I'm not a vampire."

She sees the first light of day seeping through the closed windows. "I really need to go now. Thank you for keeping me company tonight. I will see you again later." With a wave and a smile, she turns off the stream and removes her headphones. Then, she picks up her legs.

Tzuyu puts them on and hisses. They're really too tight for her and it hurts her skin. But she needs them to move to her bed, at least.

Cranberry didn't wish her goodnight. They probably fell asleep as they watched her play. Tzuyu really cherished their presence.

She opens the door to her room and sees Chaeyoung sleeping on the bed next to hers. Tzuyu smiles. She liked sharing a room with her. It made her feel less lonely, even if just for a few hours.

Tzuyu moves to her bed, but one of her prosthetics wasn't well attached. She falls.

And she falls on top of Chaeyoung, but manages to place her arms by her sides before hitting her.

Chaeyoung stirs in her sleep and opens her eyes. The first thing she sees is Tzuyu's face very close to hers in the dark.

"Tzu...?"

"S-sorry. I fell. I can't get up."

"Oh. Oh, you ok?" Chaeyoung blinks and grabs the vampire's shoulders, sitting up with her. She sees one of the prosthetics on the floor. "These things are really hurting you, aren't they?"

"It's ok."

"It's not. I'll try to get new ones soon, I promise."

"Chaeng. It's fine."

"It's not." Chaeyoung insists and pulls Tzuyu to her lap, detaching the other leg. Tzuyu grunts. "I want to take care of you. Let me."

Tzuyu is very close and she avoids Chaeyoung's gaze. "You do too much for me."

"I care about you."

"And I can't figure out why." It's painful.

"What are you talking about?" Chaeyoung frowns, then touches her cheek, turning Tzuyu's face back to her. "We're friends, aren't we?"

"Yes." Tzuyu feels trapped and vulnerable. She speaks without thinking. "Because you don't know the real me. Just like the people on the stream."

"The real you? I don't care that you're a vampire—"

"It's not that." Her voice raises in volume and she wants to leave Chaeyoung's lap. It's too comfortable for a monster like her. "You don't know what I did, or where I came from. Who I was. I deserve this." She points to her legs.

"Tzu—" Chaeyoung is still sleepy and she has no idea where this outburst was coming from.

"Don't take this away from me, Chaeng."

"Take what?"

"My punishment." Tzuyu lifts her gaze and it's one of the saddest things Chaeyoung's ever seen. "Let me live with it, it's all I ask."

The silence slowly kills the doctor inside. Tzuyu wants to run away from this pressure, but she can't. She can't run, ever again. So she lives with it, like she should.

Then, she feels soft lips to her cheeks – her scars.

Chaeyoung pulls back with a smile. "Go to sleep, ok?"

Tzuyu is carried to her bed and Chaeyoung tucks her in like a loving mother. She caresses Tzuyu's forehead and kisses her there, too. Tzuyu's eyes feel wet.

"See you tonight." Chaeyoung says.

"...Have a good day." Tzuyu replies.

Then Chaeyoung leaves, and she's allowed to cry.

She sleeps soon after and dreams like she does every day. She dreams about a fire, blood on her hands, corpses by her feet, invisible ropes tying her to someone she couldn't disobey, and two children screaming and crying.

And she dreams about the vengeful eyes of one of them.

\--

Nayeon is giddy that morning and nearly knocks Mina out with a back hug after arriving at the company. "Woah, there!" Mina laughs.

"I have it."

"What?"

"A name for our duo!" Nayeon lets her go. "It's good and you'll love it, ready?"

"Let's hear it."

"Vermillon."

Mina raises an eyebrow. "Vermillon."

"Yes."

"That's—"

"Red in... uh. French? Or some kind of red, at least." Nayeon crosses her arms. "You look disappointed."

"I'm not, I just... have to get used to it?"

"Say it five times." Mina does, then Nayeon laughs. "You look dumb."

Mina slaps her arm. "Shut up." Then frowns. "Isn't red in French actually _rouge_?"

Nayeon groans. "I don't know, I don't speak French! The internet told me it existed."

Mina just chuckles and stares at Nayeon fondly. "You came up with this after one Google search, didn't you?"

"So?" Nayeon huffs and moves to put her bag in the locker. "Fine, you hate it. Any other suggestions?"

"I don't hate it, you absolute drama queen." Mina places a finger on her chin, thoughtful. "Maybe we can work around this word. Ver-Mi? Llover?"

"Mina. These sound terrible."

"We can ask Mr. Park for his opinion later." Mina yawns and rubs her eyes.

Nayeon smiles at how cute she sounded. "Didn't sleep well?"

"I couldn't sleep so I kinda watched videos until late."

"ASMR?"

"Uh... video game streaming, actually."

Nayeon laughs loudly. "Nerd."

Despite being sleepy Mina doesn't fall behind on rehearsals. The two of them are already in perfect sync, and the song is coming out nicely. Mr. Park even passes by and asks to watch, and is pleased by the development.

His smile tells Mina that he has a debut date in mind.

They eat at the cafeteria and chat with other trainees. One of the girls blushes when Nayeon speaks to her, completely starry-eyed. Nayeon wonders if fans will look at her like this once she's famous.

Mina is distracted by her phone, though. Nayeon wonders if everything is fine.

After vocal lessons, they go to the bathroom to change clothes. Nayeon pokes Mina's sides. "Hey, you've been kinda distracted. Everything good?"

"Y-yeah, yeah." Mina remembers the promise of not talking about the vampire situation with Nayeon until their debut. "Don't worry."

"Hm, alright. Before we go home wanna talk to Mr. Park about my incredible idea for our name?" Nayeon smirks.

"Sure." Mina puts her phone away.

They get in the elevator to his office. Mina tries not to think much about the fact that Seungyeon hadn't talk to her the whole day.

Mr. Park welcomes them warmly. "Come in! What can I help you with?"

Mina and Nayeon sit in front of his desk and Nayeon's bravado vanishes. "Sir, uh, we wanted to talk to you about... a few names we came up with. For our duo. Sir."

"Go on."

"Mina, go on." Nayeon nudges her.

"Huh? It was your idea." Mina argues.

"Mina, Mr. Park is waiting." Nayeon passes the responsibility to her and Mina just sighs. This girl was impossible.

"We thought about three names. Vermillon, Ver-Mi, and Llover."

Mr. Park hums and leans his chin on both hands, deep in thought.

"Vermillon is a good name, girls. It evokes the color red, which is the color of pigeon's blood ruby. I quite enjoy this connection." Mr. Park smiles, satisfied. "Good job!"

Nayeon almost melts on her chair right then. "Thank you, sir."

"Nayeon came up with it." Mina winks at her.

With their new name ready, Nayeon and Mina bid him goodbye. It's almost dark out and Nayeon's smile is contagious.

"Hello, we are Vermillon. Nice to meet you. Hello, we are Vermillon! 1, 2, 3, hello! We are Vermillon!" Nayeon mumbles to herself. "I love this, Mina."

"It rolls better off the tongue the more you repeat it." Mina agrees. Then she looks at her partner. "Hey, I don't think I said it yet, but... thank you."

"For what?"

"For giving me a second chance at this. It was... lonely, being a solo singer." Mina smiles. "Thank you."

Nayeon allows herself to look at Mina. She knows she shouldn't be thinking about it, but she can't help it. How lonely must be the life of a vampire as young as her? Mina still looked her actual age, but others around her would eventually get older.

And she would be alone again.

"Mina... can I ask you something?"

"Yes?"

"Why did you want to be an idol?"

Mina stays quiet for a bit, looking up at the night sky. No stars again today. "I guess I just don't want to be forgotten."

“Oh.”

It hits Nayeon that this is exactly what Sana wishes, too.

Nayeon gets home in one piece, as always. She asks Mina if she wants to stay for a bit.

"I can't today, have something to do. But tomorrow?" Mina replies gently and Nayeon smiles.

"Ok. Goodnight, Mina."

The door closes and Mina's expression falls. She sighs, anxious again.

\--

Jeongyeon refused to leave the hospital.

She slept on the uncomfortable couch the whole night, and 13 hours later, there was still no news about Seungyeon's condition. She didn't care, she would stay until her sister woke up.

She wasn't dead, Jeongyeon was sure of it. Seungyeon can't die.

One of the specialized doctors arrive, sounding tired. "Miss Yoo?"

Jeongyeon wakes up, jumping on her feet. "Yes."

"I have news from—"

She takes three large steps, getting right into his face. "She's alive?"

"...Y-yes. Your sister is stable, Miss Yoo."

She almost breaks.

"Good. G-good." She grabs the doctor by the shoulders to prevent her own knees from giving up. "Let me see her."

"I don't think—"

Her grip tightens. "Now."

"Of c-course. This way, please."

She follows him down the hallway, heart beating out of control. Seungyeon was alive.

She doesn't know what to expect when she gets to the room, but it surprises her, nonetheless. Seungyeon wasn't sleeping, she was awake. Her entire left side is covered in bandages, including her arm.

Seungyeon manages a weak smile. "Good thing I'm right-handed, huh?"

Jeongyeon falls to her knees beside her bed, careful not to touch her body. She speaks through tears. "You dumbass..."

"Don't tell me you were worried." Seungyeon wishes she could hug her. "I'm too stubborn to die."

"You better stay this way." Jeongyeon stops talking and cries.

After 10 minutes of sobbing, Jeongyeon catches her breath. Seungyeon waits, then speaks. "I need to tell you the situation."

"Not now."

"My arm is completely gone, and I can't feel my left side either. I know I have one broken rib."

"Seung..."

"It's over for me, Jeong."

"Stop it." Jeongyeon doesn't want to hear this.

"I'm not hunting again. I'll probably be promoted to Strategy Manager and work from the office."

"You don't know that."

Seungyeon smiles gently. "I know it." The next words hit too hard. "You're the only Yoo now."

Jeongyeon has never felt so lonely in her entire life. Everything she's worked for was thanks to her sister's support. She couldn't have become a huntress alone. Seungyeon was the teacher, the prodigy.

"We were going to kill Jihyo together." Jeongyeon sounds defeated.

"It's on you, now." Seungyeon's eyes feel heavy. The pain medicine was starting to work. "I need to rest. Can you tell Mr. Moon what I just told you?"

Jeongyeon just nods, slowly.

"Thank you." Seungyeon breathes out, painfully. "I love you, Jeong."

"Love you, too."

Before leaving, Jeongyeon asks. "Who did this to you? Was it just a random encounter?" She doubted it. This vampire was too strong to be a normal Silver.

But Seungyeon was already out like a candle. Jeongyeon sighs in frustration.

She hated vampires so much.

\--

The plane touches the ground with a loud sound. Finally, back home. It takes a while for the aircraft to stop moving, and when the passengers are allowed to leave, the two women wait for the plane to empty out.

The woman wearing an eye-patch opens her silver eye once everything is quiet again.

The woman beside her unbuckles her seatbelt. "Let's go?"

The eye-patch woman gets up and waits for her companion to pass her their bags. She sees a little bit of dry blood on the leather. "Clean this up for me."

Her companion licks the spot. Her tongue tingles. "I'm hungry."

"Then eat." The eye-patch woman says as they walk down the corridor.

The stewardess is waiting for them at the door with a smile. "Have a goodn—" She faints in the middle of the sentence and the eye-patch woman catches her.

"Be quick." Jihyo says as Momo drinks.

Once she's done, they put the stewardess gently on a chair and leave. Momo carries their bags with one hand, walking one step behind Jihyo.

As soon as they arrive at the exit, Jihyo breathes in the city air. Home. "Call a taxi."

"Already on it."

It arrives quickly.

Momo opens the door for Jihyo then puts their bags in the trunk, joining her soon after on the backseat. She gives the driver the address and leans back as the car moves.

Jihyo suddenly grabs her jaw and turns her face towards her. She brushes a thumb on her lip. "It's dirty."

The tiny drip of blood on her thumb makes Momo feel ashamed. "Sorry."

"Clean yourself properly." Jihyo says, then pushes her thumb against Momo's lips. The vampire takes her thumb into her mouth, licking it clean. Once it's done, Jihyo cleans the drool on Momo's pants.

The ride home is quiet after that. Momo keeps licking her lips, searching for any more spots she might've missed. Jihyo looks out of the window.

At last, they get home. The taxi driver, a tiny old man with a gentle smile, turns to them. "Here we are."

"Thank you." Jihyo grins.

Momo leaves the car to open the trunk and get their bags. Jihyo stays inside, much to the old man's confusion. "May I help you with anything else, ma'am?"

Jihyo reaches for his neck with one hand, finding his pulse point. "Not at all. Thank you for being alive, sir."

In a matter of seconds, the clean windows and leather seat turn red with gushing blood as Jihyo's nails tear the old man's throat open. He gargles on his own fluids before his limbs give out.

Jihyo climbs on the front seat and licks his open neck, drinking from a fountain. Momo just waits outside, one foot tapping on the concrete as Jihyo does whatever it is she's doing. When the car door opens again, Jihyo steps out, dripping red.

Momo's silver eyes shine at the sight. "It's dirty."

Jihyo walks to her. "Clean it up for me."

Momo's grip tightens, but she soon drops the bags on the floor. She gave up trying to understand Jihyo's nuances a long time ago. With one step, she gets closer then stops. Jihyo doesn't say anything. So, she continues.

Her tongue finds Jihyo's jaw and she starts to clean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on twitter @niigoki_


	7. Chapter 7

Sana is still not used to how light her right side feels now. She wobbles as she walks, left hand touching the wall of the alley to balance herself. She's fallen on her face more than once tonight. But she's hungry, and proud, and not ready to face _her_.

So, she hunts.

It's pathetic that she has to resort to wait for drunk men and women to leave the nearest bar, too shitfaced to realize what's happening. The darkness covers her features as she leans on the wall. Soon, a happy couple comes along, laughing and moving as erratically as her.

Sana steps out of the shadows, eyes shining strongly. The first person she makes eye contact with is the man. The alcohol makes it easier for him to fall asleep quickly. The woman just frowns, not understanding what was happening. Sana lifts her chin, forcing her to look too. Now the two bodies are on the floor, motionless. It's an easy prey. Too easy.

Sana hates feeding like this. She wants the thrill, wants people to be awake when she does it, wants them to look at her and know her face.

"Remember me." She whispers before the bite.

Once she's done, Sana places the couple sitting up against the wall. She adjusts their arms, so it looks like they're holding hands. A loving parting gift. Her eyes soften. She puts a thumb over the woman's pulse point, feeling the heartbeat. It would be so easy to kill her.

Sana smiles. Forlorn. "Is he your boyfriend? You were laughing together earlier. You must really like him."

Her thumb presses down on the skin. "You have no real way of knowing if he likes you back, do you? You can only hope he does." She eases the pressure. "Must be hard."

She leaves them alone, clinging to the wall as she gets up with a grunt. "Cherish each other. Life is short."

Sana walks away, her black poncho covering the lack of an arm. The street is busy at night and she gets lost in the crowd. Her legs take her somewhere, slowly.

The place is familiar. Sana is still hazy, drunk off a feeling she can't pinpoint. It's not sadness, exactly. She feels numb. The smell is strong here; delicious blood that she's been wanting to taste. For what? To upset a girl who she should have forgotten already.

Sana stops moving.

The house is normal, as she expected. A porch, a front door, a calm neighborhood. There are vampires lurking around, but they're far away. Sana walks again, one step at a time. When she reaches the door, she stops. The girl was home.

She knocks.

\--

Nayeon is in the middle of slurping some ramen when she hears the knock. She frowns, confused. Maybe Mina decided that she wanted to stay tonight, after all? She did seem off the whole day today, canceling their plans of spending some time together.

"Coming!" Nayeon says.

Because of Mina's constant protection and reassurance, Nayeon had completely put her guard down. So, she opens the door without checking. When she sees the last person she expected to see, her heart nearly jumps out of her chest. Nayeon trips on herself, falling down on her butt.

"W-what are you doing here?" Nayeon forgets everything Mina taught her about vampires and throws the first thing she can reach at Sana. "Don't come closer!"

Sana dodges the slipper with a small grin. "You're always so loud, aren't you?" She points to the door. "I can't come in."

"Oh. That's right, you CAN'T come in! I'm not inviting you in!" Nayeon gets up, blushing at how dumb she must look like right now.

"That's fine. I don't really know why I'm here, either." Sana says, then peeks inside. "Were you eating ramen on your couch?"

"...So what?"

"Idols should diet." Sana smirks.

"I've eaten nothing but healthy food this past week, let me have this." Nayeon rubs her butt, annoyed. "What are you doing here?"

Sana doesn't know what to answer. So instead, she opens her poncho, showing Nayeon her lack of an arm. "Ta-dah."

Nayeon stares, in shock. "…Did the hunter do this to you?"

"She did. I didn't think she was that good. I was careless."

Sana sounded so lifeless, nothing like she sounded on the phone. And for some god-forsaken reason, Nayeon hurts for her. All because she wanted her blood.

"What happened to the hunter?" Nayeon needed to know before feeling too bad for her.

"Dunno. But I hurt her pretty bad, too. She's either dead or broken now."

This was an evil vampire Nayeon was talking to. She had to remember that. "You're terrible."

Sana laughs. "Right."

"You kill people." Nayeon says, and it feels like she's trying to convince herself of something.

"She attacked first." Sana raises an eyebrow. "You sent her after me."

"I... you wanted to claim me!"

"So you protected yourself."

"Of course!"

"I protected myself, too."

"...Did you come here to tell me that it's my fault you don't have an arm anymore?" Nayeon trembles from anger. "Because I'm not feeling bad for you."

"Not really." Sana says, calmly. "I just didn't want to go back home yet. I thought I could spend some time with you."

It's such a bizarre conversation. Nayeon frowns. "We're not friends."

"You're still writing that journal?" Sana sits down on the porch, tired of standing.

"...Yes."

"Well, do you want more information on vampires? I can give you anything."

This lights a fire inside Nayeon, but she doesn’t want to budge. "I have Mina to consult about this."

Sana giggles again. "I bet you two have been talking a lot about vampires."

Nayeon hates how she's right. Mina told her to stop worrying about this for now. But Nayeon had so many questions, still.

They stare at each other for a defiant moment. Sana, for all the sarcasm and questionable morals, didn't seem to want a fight. Nayeon was inside her home, a place Sana couldn't reach. She was protected.

Her curiosity would still kill her, one day.

"Stay here." Nayeon says. She goes upstairs to grab her journal, heart beating fast. This was thrilling and dangerous. Mina would be furious if she knew what she was getting herself into.

But Sana was an open book and Nayeon an avid reader. She needed to know.

Nayeon sighs. "I'm a dumbass."

Once she’s back, Nayeon moves across the living room, grabs her ramen and sits in front of Sana at a safe distance. She opens her journal, puts it on her lap and takes a bite from her noodles.

Nayeon scrunches her nose. "They're cold because of you."

Sana shrugs. "It's life."

"Shut up." She slurps more ramen. "I'll ask the questions." Nayeon says.

"As always."

"But first," She finishes her ramen and puts the cup down beside her. "Give me back my slipper. The one I threw at you."

Sana looks behind her. "But it's so faaaaar..."

"Lazy-ass vamp,” Nayeon rolls her eyes. "Fine. I have a question, and if you don't answer me, I'm closing the door." Nayeon leans forward and stares at Sana's eyes. "What's your relationship with Mina?"

For a split second Sana's eyes shine, but soon are back to normal. She smiles. "That one so soon, huh? Okay.” She pulls one leg under her. “Mina was part of my coven for a year." Sana looks up at the starless sky, reminiscing. "She was... not my protégée. But I acted like a mentor of sorts to her. I shouldn't have."

Nayeon stops. "Woah, woah, wait. Coven?"

"Oh, right.” Sana blinks, forgetting that Nayeon didn’t know anything. “It’s like a big vampire clan. A family of sorts. Silvers are usually part of a coven. We can't exactly live like normal people, so we seek our own. There are plenty of covens out there in the city, hidden in mansions, abandoned buildings, even alleys. Depends on the size of it." Sana grins. "Mine is the biggest one."

"So you're the leader of a coven?" Nayeon asks.

"Nah. I say my coven, but that's because I'm part of it. Our leader is someone else."

"Who?"

Sana's gaze falls on hers again. "Not telling. Don't get involved in this."

"You said you'd answer—"

"Nay." She's serious. "Don't."

Nayeon feels like she should listen, for once. "Fine. Why did Mina leave, then?"

Sana hums. "Mina, she... she tries. She tries really hard, to help people. I guess that's because that's who she was when she was human. But vampires can't be helped. She learned it the hard way." Sana sighs and picks at her poncho. "She was the only Goldie there. Goldens don't need covens, but she found ours and we took her in. She was desperate for some kind of connection, I guess. Wasn't in good shape when she came in. But the others didn't like it."

"Mina would wake up in the morning, leave and live her life, talk to friends. Then come back at night when we were all waking up." Sana chuckles. "I guess it reminded the others too much of their former human lives. They were pissed that someone normal could live with us freaks."

"She didn't care, but it wasn't her decision. I knew she would be kicked out eventually. I tried to protect her from it." Sana's smile becomes bitter. "But then, she had to meddle. Minari was a goddamn meddler."

Nayeon feels her palms sweating. "What... what did she do?"

"She tried to help me." Sana says through a smile that is anything but cheerful. "She wanted to save me from a 400 year-old curse, thinking she was a hero. I hate martyrs, you know. So, I stopped protecting her."

"What—"

"Then she found out something that made her leave." Sana’s lip curls, showing a fang. "Goldies have all the advantages in the world. They can be as normal as always." Her smile turns wicked. "But nothing that good comes without a price. Do you know what the Goldens’ biggest curse is?"

Nayeon shakes her head.

Sana laughs. "They can't have bondmates."

Nayeon feels a chill down her spine. "What is a bondmate?"

"A soulmate. Someone who will stay with you for the rest of your immortal life. It would be too lonely and too painful to bear the weight of an eternal existence without someone who loves you back." Sana kneels, her smile never fading. "Goldens can love. They can love humans, who will eventually die. They can love Silvers, who already have bondmates. Goldens are capable of loving." She sits back down. "But no other vampire will ever love them back. They are fated to spend eternity utterly alone."

Nayeon drops her pencil, her eyes blurred. Her cheeks are wet.

For some reason that hit her _hard_. She was crying.

"That's—" She thinks about Mina's smile and how she looks at her, and how she kissed her cheek. How warm she was. How lovely she was.

How cruel it was, to fall for immortality.

"Minari is starved for connection. She loves too easily, forgives too easily. But she wants to be loved back so, so desperately." Sana drops her gaze. "When she realized I would never give her what she wanted, she left. Mina is broken, Nayeon. And she keeps self-destructing."

Nayeon closes her journal, rubbing her eyes. "Stop. I don't— that's enough."

Sana softens her gaze and gets up awkwardly. "You should probably sleep." She turns around to grab Nayeon's slipper.

Then, she steps into Nayeon's house to give it back. "Here."

Nayeon freezes.

"You can't— you shouldn't be able to—" Nayeon stutters, stepping back.

Sana giggles softly. "When you asked me to give you back your slipper, that was an invitation to bring it to where you were."

Nayeon’s mouth hangs open. "That's— stupid!"

"Hey, I take what I can get." Sana drops it. "Goodnight, Nay."

And before Nayeon can process what happened, Sana leans in and kisses her. It's gentle, just a simple touch. Then Sana pulls back and waves goodbye with her one hand.

The vampire leaves without another word.

Nayeon stays frozen in place.

What a night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on twitter @niigoki_


	8. Chapter 8

"Morning." Nayeon greets Mina when she arrives at the studio.

"Hey." Mina replies, unenthusiastically. Nayeon is immediately worried, but the conversation from yesterday had drained her completely. She can't help but to look at Mina now and remember how cruel her existence is.

"You ok?" Nayeon asks, sitting down next to her.

"Just worried." Mina rubs her eyes, exhausted. "The hunter I sent after Sana hasn't replied to me yet. I'm afraid she..."

Nayeon wants to tell her that she's fine, but Sana also didn't know what had happened in the end. Nayeon should _really_ tell Mina about yesterday's conversation.

But what would she even tell her? That she knew now a part of her painful past? That Mina was going to live forever, completely alone?

That she realized her feelings for Mina?

Absolutely not. This would break Mina.

"If your hunter had been... you know, killed... wouldn't that appear in the news?" Nayeon tries to soothe her worries anyway because that's just who she is.

Mina blinks. "You're right. Hadn't thought about that." She looks at the TV above their heads. "Can you turn it on?"

Nayeon reaches for the controller and puts on the local news channel.

"...police have been trying to locate the criminal that's been kidnapping and killing cats in the neighborhood, but no luck so far. This Cat-napper has been..."

"That's a terrible name." Nayeon says.

"Yeah," Mina sounds numb. "But nothing about the hunter."

The dance coach arrives then. "Morning, girls. Start warming up."

Mina sighs and gets up. Nayeon turns off the TV, legs heavy with guilt. They can only get through this day with the little strength they have left.

\--

Dahyun runs, completely out of breath, through back alleys that look like a labyrinth.

“I saw her! It’s a girl, get her!” The voice of an old lady stays behind as Dahyun’s strong legs push her faster than she could’ve moved when she was alive. She jumps over a wall, escaping.

Dahyun only stops when she makes sure that no one is trailing her anymore. Her heart doesn’t beat and she doesn’t get tired anymore, but her human reflexes still make her put a hand to her chest, shaking.

She punches the wall behind her. “Dammit, that was close.”

After calming down, Dahyun leaves her hideout. She checks the time. It was still early for the meeting.

She walks with her hands in her pockets, whistling – she did that when she was nervous. Some kids pass by and wave at her. Dahyun smiles and waves back. It’s warm today.

The building is relatively new, all white with grey windows. The plaque hanging on the wall is rusty and small, as if it’s trying not to call attention to itself.

_A.A. - Alcoholics Anonymous_

Dahyun stares at the door, taking her hands off her pockets. With a sigh, she walks in.

The usual people are already there, waiting for her. They’re sitting in wooden chairs, in a circle, and some smile and nod when Dahyun walks in.

“Sorry for the wait, guys.” Dahyun sits on her spot.

“No worries.” A girl says. “You’re still earlier than Yoojung.”

“No one can be later than Yoojung.” Doyeon rolls her eyes.

“Somi was, once.” Sejeong teases.

“I was helping a _very_ slow old man cross the street??” Somi defends herself.

“Sure, nice excuse.” Sejeong laughs.

“Guys, stop fighting.” Sohye tries to calm them down. It’s just another normal day.

"Alright, calm down." Nayoung places a finger over her lips, asking them to hush down. "I'm sure Yoojung is—"

"Here!" The tiny girl nearly slams the door open, startling everyone.

Chungha, covered in black, almost drops her umbrella. "Jesus, I could've disintegrated just now!"

"The windows are all closed and lamps won't kill you." Yoojung says, sitting beside Doyeon. The taller girl pinches her. "Ouch!"

"Brat." Doyeon says.

"As if you're not one."

"I rather not risk my life on dumb mistakes." Chungha says, still holding her umbrella inside.

"Okay, we're all here." Nayoung interrupts before another argument breaks out. "Let's start today's meeting. The theme today is 'Human Friendships'. Who would like to start?"

Sejeong raises her hand. "Me."

"Go on."

Dahyun leans back on her chair and just listens.

"Well, one of my closest friends is pregnant. She's so happy and keeps sharing pictures of her and her husband with me, and I just... I feel so inadequate. I don't know how to tell her to stop sharing these with me."

"You're not happy for her?" Nayoung asks.

"That's not it." Sejeong crosses her arms. "She knows of my condition. That I'll never get to have kids. And it was a dream, you know? I really like kids."

"You can still adopt." Somi says.

"And outlive them? Not a chance." Sejeong laughs and the room goes quiet.

"...I forgot about that." Somi mutters, looking down.

"It's hard to adapt, don't worry Somi." Nayoung says gently.

"Yeah, it fucking is. Especially when you’re turned at fifteen.” Somi raises her voice, now upset. How am I supposed to explain to my friends that I'm not aging? They're all still teenagers, but one day—"

"Hey, it's still my turn." Sejeong pouts.

"Fine, whatever." Somi looks away.

"Go on, Sejeong." Nayoung nods.

"I've just been thinking a lot about... letting her go.” Sejeong continues. “Deleting her from all social media and from my life. Is that selfish of me?"

"Yes," Doyeon says. "But understandable. You'll outlive her too, anyway."

There's silence again. Sohye speaks. "I wouldn't want to stop talking to my friends..."

"Friends are a burden." Chaeyeon, who is hardly a willing participant, mutters from her spot, to everyone’s surprise.

"Friends make life easier." Yoojung refutes.

"Easy for you to say, your best friend is a vampire too."

"Doyeon isn't my only friend." Yoojung frowns.

"Yeah, we have other friends in school, you know?" Doyeon crosses her arms.

"Guys, we're getting carried awa—" Nayoung tries.

"And when they find out who you really are, will they still be your friends?" Chaeyeon bites back.

"What's your problem?" Doyeon's voice raises.

"I'm just saying it's easier to cut ties with all humans and find friendships in other Goldens." Chaeyeon says.

"Hey, what about me?" Chungha asks, offended.

"I don't even know why you're here." Chaeyeon answers.

"This is a meeting for all vampires, Silvers and Goldens alike." Nayoung says, annoyed. "Chungha has every right to be here, she's just as young as all of you."

Chaeyeon stays quiet, and the overall mood drops.

"We're all the same, anyway." Dahyun says, suddenly. "Vampires, humans."

"What do you mean?" Somi asks.

Everyone is now staring at her and Dahyun feels the responsibility. "I mean, I live with a Silver and a human, who happens to be my best friend, and it's like three friends living together in harmony. I don't know why it has to be different."

"People have different lives, Dahyun." Chaeyeon says.

"Exactly. Vampires aren't the only ones who have struggles like this. If Sejeong was a human, but infertile, wouldn't her case be the same? Your friend is being kind of shitty. No offense."

"None taken." Sejeong laughs.

"At least she would be able to adopt without worrying about outliving her kids." Doyeon replies.

"What if her kid had a disease and died early?" Dahyun continues.

"That's just... bad luck."

"It's still different." Chaeyeon insists.

"No, it's not.” Dahyun presses. “We've got the same issues."

The room keeps quiet, letting it all sink in.

"I think I understand what you’re trying to say." Sohye says.

"Yeah, I guess." Yoojung nods.

"Well, I don’t!" Chaeyeon gets up. "What's the point of pretending we're still human? We're not. We're monsters and we gotta accept that!"

"What did I say about self-deprecation in this room?" Nayoung chimes in.

"This whole meeting is stupid! Vampire therapy? Don't make me laugh, that's just an excuse to find other people who are worse off than you and feel better about yourself!" Chaeyeon then storms off the room.

Dahyun gets up to try and chase her, but Doyeon stops her. "Let her go. She needs to cool off."

With a sigh, Dahyun sits back down. "I blew that one, huh?"

"Not at all. Positivity is hard to find in a life like ours. I'm sure she'll think about what you said." Nayoung smiles. Then, she turns around and opens the fridge behind her. "Well, guess we're done for today. Here is your blood bag for the week. Thank you for coming."

The vampires receive the bag and hug each other at the end of the session. Dahyun stays away, staring at the blood in her hands; she is always the last one to leave. Even though Nayoung keeps saying how important it is for her to share her positive points of view with the rest, Dahyun still has a head full of thoughts after each session.

Before she can step out of the door, Nayoung calls for her. "I've heard the news. About the Cat-napper."

Dahyun freezes, then turns around with an awkward laugh. "That's a really shitty name."

Nayoung just stares at her, seriously. "Dahyun."

"I know, I know. I'm trying to do better." She looks down at her feet.

Nayoung places a hand on her shoulder. "You know we can schedule a private session if you want to—"

Dahyun shrugs her off. "I'm fine, Nayoung." She checks the clock. "I need to go to work."

With that, she leaves. Nayoung watches, shoulders dropping.

\--

Mr. Park knocks on the door of the studio and pops his head in. "Girls, I just wanted you to know that your vocal coach is sick and couldn't make it today. You're free to go home early."

"Oh, thank you, sir." Nayeon and Mina say at the same time, looking up from the paper sheet. The two girls were trying to compose a pre-debut song to sing on their first live, but nothing was working. The mood was just too heavy for creativity. So, they give up for today.

As soon as they leave the building, Nayeon asks. "Do you want to hang out?"

Mina shakes her head.

"I have to go see someone. Not knowing what happened to my hunter friend is driving me crazy." Mina says.

"I understand. I hope she's ok."

Mina smiles. "Thank you. Sorry for being down today."

It's such a small thing compared to the tragedy of it all. "Don't worry, Mina."

Nayeon watches her leave. Every time she looks at Mina, her heart feels like it's being painfully squeezed by imaginary thorns. Nayeon wonders if she will ever recover from the feeling. Without anything else scheduled for today she decides to walk back home, taking a longer path.

\--

"Goddammit, Dahyun." Chaeyoung huffs, grabbing the catnip from the cupboard. She mocks her voice on the phone earlier. "'Oh, Chaengie! I forgot the catnip at home! Can you bring it to me? Thank you, hero!' It's not like I'm _busy_ or anything."

She really used her break for this.

Chaeyoung puts the catnip in the pocket of her white coat and starts walking all the way to Dahyun's location. Her friend was babysitting cats again, and thankfully the house was close to their home. This cat apparently needed the catnip for his health.

It's too hot out today.

\--

"Noodle, no, come back here!" Dahyun tries her best to catch the cat before he jumps out of the window and into the street, but the creature is too fast. "Fucking Noodle." Dahyun turns to the other two cats. "You stay here, I need to rescue your brother!" Then, she jumps too.

"Where are you, Noodle??" Dahyun calls for him, looking left and right. The owners would be furious if she let him get hurt. "Come back, Chaengie was almost home with the catnip!"

She runs until she sees the animal in the distance. "Noodle!"

He moves into the crowded street.

\--

Nayeon sighs for the tenth time that day, too many things going through her head. She missed Mina's company. It was weird not being with her in the afternoon.

She needed to get a grip. Loving her would just hurt Mina even more. Nayeon needed to stop.

Then, a cat jumps on her.

Nayeon is so startled by this random encounter that she hugs the animal, but falls back at the same time. She waits for the impact.

But someone grabs her shoulders before she hits the ground. "Woah, you ok—" The voice pauses. "It's you!"

Nayeon looks up. "Doc Chaeyoung?"

"Noodle!" Another voice comes close and Nayeon turns her face to see a girl running towards them. The girl tries to stop once she realizes that the cat was being held by someone, but unfortunately her super speed is still new to her.

So Dahyun knocks Nayeon and Chaeyoung over.

"Ouch..." The three girls groan. Chaeyoung tries to push the other two away from her but she's being squeezed too hard. Nayeon is sandwiched between them and Dahyun immediately feels something weird when she recovers.

She lifts her torso, eyes wide. "You smell delicious."

"Huh?" Nayeon blinks, still dizzy. The girl on top of her has golden eyes and they were shining slightly. Nayeon looks away, quickly realizing what was happening.

"Get away, get away, get away!" She squeezes her eyes shut and something meows.

Dahyun snaps out of it. "Noodle!" She finally gets up.

Nayeon offers her the cat as sacrifice. "Please not me, I'm _tired_ of vamps."

Chaeyoung's eyes go wide. She hugs Nayeon impulsively with a huge smile. "I knew it! You know about them too!"

They realize that a small crowd has formed around them.

Nayeon, being the idol that she was born to be, quickly improvises. "And that's all you're getting from our theatre troupe today, folks! If you liked our little improv, please consider donating so that we can achieve our dreams!"

Some people start clapping and even throw some coins.

Well, then.

The people finally leave after Nayeon forces the other two girls to bow and go with the flow, and once they're left alone, she feels exhausted. That's not how she planned to spend her afternoon.

Dahyun looks at the cat. "So, you ran from home to join a troupe, huh?"

"Meow." Noodle struggles in her arms, trying to reach Chaeyoung's pockets.

"Oh, right." The doc grabs the catnip. "Brought your cat weed."

"Catnip!"

"Same thing."

Nayeon has no idea what's happening. She looks at the coins they harvested. "...You guys wanna drink some coffee?"

\--

Somehow, the three ended up in a café, sitting at the balcony. Nayeon used the coins for her coffee, telling the others to pay for their own. Chaeyoung paid for Dahyun's.

She's in between a vampire holding a cat on her lap and a crazy human doctor.

She's been through worse.

"So. You're a Golden." Nayeon breaks the ice, not really in the mood for a convoluted dialogue.

"Sure am." Dahyun plays with Noodle. "And you are the girl Chaeng helped that day."

"Yep." Nayeon eats her cookie. "And you," She turns to Chaeyoung. "Are human."

"Yep."

"Cool. You two live together?" Nayeon asks.

"We're roommates. There's a third person living with us, but she's asleep right now." Chaeyoung answers, sipping her iced tea.

"A Silver?" Nayeon guesses.

"Wow, you know a lot." Dahyun is surprised.

"Been through some shit."

"Well, I guess your wish came true, Chaeng." Dahyun giggles. "You finally met another person who sounds as crazy as you when she talks about vampires."

"Don't be rude." Chaeyoung says. Then she looks at her hands holding the cup and smiles a little. "But it is... nice."

Nayeon never stopped to think about it, but this is a first for her too. Right then, she realizes just how lonely she's been, surrounded by vampires without another human to share her feelings.

She feels a little lighter and smiles, too. "Yeah. I guess it is, huh?"

Noodle meows again and the barista clears his throat. "Uh, pets are usually not allowed in, ma'am."

Dahyun looks at him in the eyes. "Sir. I just found this stray cat starving and in pain. Have some compassion."

"S-sorry. Of course." He leaves them alone and the three laugh a lot.

It's hard to ask questions when you have so many, but Nayeon tries anyway. "How did a Silver end up living with you guys? Did you know her before she was turned?"

Chaeyoung bites her lower lip. "Not really. She was hurt when I found her, and I couldn't leave her alone."

"She didn't resist? Or tried to attack you at all?" Nayeon asks, surprised.

"She was too weak back then. I wanted to take her to the hospital, but she begged me not to. So I just... brought her home and took care of her there."

"Tzuyu is a good person." Dahyun mutters.

"She slept throughout the day and woke up at night. I thought it was because of her injuries. Then she told me she needed to leave before she hurt me." Chaeyoung remembers it clearly.

"She never bit Chaeng. Or me, when I was a human." Dahyun says. "She refused to."

Nayeon could barely believe Silvers like that existed, but she was open for anything at this point. Vampires were a lot more complex than she thought, and she was aware of that.

"When was this?" She asks.

"Six years ago." Chaeyoung answers.

Nayeon frowns. That's when Mina was turned.

"That's a lot." Nayeon then turns to Dahyun. "So, were you and the doc friends before you turned?"

"We've been best friends for ages!" Dahyun grins proudly.

"Wow. So... when did you turn? If I may ask."

"Just last year." Her grin drops. "I'm still very new at this."

Nayeon's heart hurts. This girl probably had no idea about any of it. Unless this Tzuyu had told her. She seemed like a passive Silver though, so Nayeon doubted Dahyun was aware of covens, or bondmates.

Or the curse of the Goldens.

She hated remembering that.

"She's new at this but she's already a pain in the ass." Chaeyoung teases.

"Hey!"

Nayeon tries to laugh. These two were definitely worth knowing better. Especially the Silver they talked about.

"Say... are you maybe free this weekend? I really wanted to chat more." Nayeon asks.

Chaeyoung nearly jumps up and down from excitement. "Yeah, yeah! Totally free. Let me give you my address. Oh, and if you come in the evening Tzuyu will be awake too!"

Nayeon smiles. "I'd like to meet her."

Noodle meows again and they giggle. Nayeon feels safe in their company.

"I'm excited to know about your story with vamps, too." Chaeyoung replies and Nayeon feels a knot in her throat. She wanted to tell them, but she wasn't sure about what details she should share.

She looks at Dahyun's honest smile and realizes she can't hurt her with the truth.

The three finally leave the café, but Dahyun asks Nayeon before saying goodbye. "Say, why do you smell so good?"

Nayeon isn't even fazed anymore. "It's my virgin blood. Apparently makes vamps go wild."

"Ah."

Then she thinks about it. "I hope Tzuyu is fed before I visit."

Nayeon waves them goodbye and leaves the doc and her friend. She feels a thousand times better and a thousand times less lonely than before. So there were people as crazy as her in this world.

For the first time, she's not afraid of the unknown. She embraces it fully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on twitter @niigoki_


	9. Chapter 9

Mina stares at the entrance of the police station nervously. She's been standing there for at least 10 minutes, debating if going in was worth the trouble. She needed to know if Seungyeon was alive, and since asking Sana was out of question, this was the only place left.

It's noisy inside. Phones ring, people walk back and forth with reports in hand, printers make noise, and a woman cries over her dead cat. Mina feels bad for her, but she needs to focus. She takes a number and waits for her turn, sitting on one of the comfortable chairs.

"82" The police officer finally calls her number and Mina goes to him. "What can I help you with?"

I was actually wondering if I could talk to Officer Yoo Seungyeon?" Mina tries to sound less anxious than she is.

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Tell her it's Mina."

"Wait here."

Mina waits patiently, fingers tapping on the counter. She hears a woman telling another officer about the cat situation, and how the police needed to catch whoever was killing the poor animals. A few minutes later, someone else returns for her.

"You." Jeongyeon sounds pissed.

Mina almost feels her heart dropping. "Jeong—"

"Come with me." Jeongyeon grabs Mina by the arm and pulls her inside for a private conversation. Mina could stop her if she wanted, but she doesn't.

Despite her raw anger, Jeongyeon's hold isn't strong. She's never hurt her. They enter Jeongyeon's office and the hunter locks the door. "Sit."

Mina does. Jeongyeon grabs another chair and sits in front of her. She looks like she hasn't slept in days.

Mina can't hold back anymore. "Where is Seungyeon, Jeong?"

"In the hospital. Paralyzed."

Mina gasps.

"Well?" Jeongyeon continues.

"I— paralyzed?" Mina can't look at the girl in front of her. "How? Is she... I don't—"

"A vampire got her. Broke her rib, scratched her deeply. Her left arm and torso are paralyzed." Jeongyeon grits her teeth. "She can't hunt anymore."

Mina's ears ring and she feels dizzy. This is her fault. She thought Seungyeon could handle it, thought she could place a trap for Sana, cripple her from afar, anything.

She should've known better. Seungyeon was still a Yoo and charged at it head on.

Mina had been stupid.

"I'm so sorry..." Mina feels her throat closing.

"It _was_ you." Jeongyeon frowns, looks away in frustration. She punches a table nearby. "Goddammit, Mina!"

"I'm sorry..."

"You lied to me that day in the train!" Jeongyeon's voice cracks. "You almost sent my sister to her death!"

"I didn't know—" Mina chokes. She's crying. "I didn't want this."

"I don't fucking _care_!" Jeongyeon yells. "My sister can't be by my side on the field anymore, I'm completely alone, and you did this!"

"I know."

"And she gave you a chance because of me." Jeongyeon sobs.

Mina catches that, but can't bring herself to ask what she meant by it. She hears Jeongyeon's controlled sobs and it hurts. Those were the tears of a girl who hasn't cried in years. And now she's hurting because of Mina. Always because of Mina.

She's Jeongyeon's curse.

"I should've never come back to you." Mina mutters, more to herself than anyone. "I should've left you and kept it that way."

Jeongyeon exhales a shaky breath. "It's too late for you to say that."

"It is." Mina looks up, eyes blurry. "All I do is hurt you."

" _Fuck_." It's like all energy had been sucked out of the room, leaving two breathless girls with nothing but each other's pain to hold on to.

"Who was it?" Jeongyeon asks after a long silence. "The vamp's name. Tell me who did that to Seungyeon."

Mina hates herself for it. "...No."

Jeongyeon gets up suddenly, grabbing her stake gun. It's reflex. She doesn't point it at Mina, just tightens her grip on it out of pure rage. "Tell me."

Mina stares at the gun weakly. She reaches for Jeongyeon's hand and pulls it towards her, pointing the gun at herself. "No."

Jeongyeon almost shoots. It wouldn't make a difference, Goldens can't die like this. But it would hurt a lot. She wanted Mina to feel the pain, for once.

They just stare at each other until Jeongyeon yanks her arm away. "...I hate you."

That hurts more than the stake.

Mina leaves the police station after Jeongyeon unlocks the door and refuses to look at her again. She doesn't say goodbye.

Mina manages a few steps before her knees give in and she crumbles on the sidewalk, shaking. She cries again. Feels like she's been torn apart.

\--

Jihyo looks up from her book when Momo turns her face towards the door to their room. There is a knock then, and Jihyo puts the book down. "Come in."

Sana opens it slowly. She locks eyes with Momo first, then walks in. "Hey."

Jihyo stares at her. "Look who decided to show up."

"Yeah, well, I haven't exactly been... all-right." Sana flaps the sleeve of her shirt, where her right arm should've been. She catches Momo's reaction instantly — the wide eyes and clenched jaw.

"Oh." Jihyo raises an eyebrow. "Why do my retainers keep losing limbs?"

"My bad."

Jihyo just sighs and looks at Momo beside her. The girl looked like a dog ready to pounce on its owner. "Control yourself."

Momo snaps out of her trance. "S-sorry."

With a snap of her fingers, Jihyo orders Sana to come closer so she can inspect the wound. Sana obeys.

"Hunter?" Jihyo asks as Sana removes her shirt.

"Yes. I underestimated her." Sana hisses after Jihyo touches her sides. She's still sensible.

"Her? A woman?"

"Yes. I didn't catch her name before she covered my arm in crosses."

"Hm. Did you kill her?"

"I'm... not sure."

"You're not sure." There's steel in Jihyo's voice and it's like she ripped her other arm off.

Sana looks at Momo for a second, then moves her gaze away. "I'll make sure to find her if she's not dead."

"No," Jihyo's fingers run over Sana’s body. "I want to know who she is first."

This catches Sana by surprise. She was sure Jihyo would want a clean, simple revenge for the one who dared to hurt her precious retainer.

Maybe Sana wasn't that important. "I'll find out."

"Good." She scratches Sana's stomach slightly. "And why did you hide this from me?"

"I was—" She swallows dry at the touch. "Coming to terms with this new reality. I needed some time to myself."

"Momo was worried sick." Jihyo whispers in her ear and looks at Momo over Sana's shoulder. "Weren't you?"

"Of course I was." Momo replies. "Stupid Sana."

"I'm sorry." Sana says and sounds genuine for the first time. Momo searches for something in her eyes and finds it there, as always.

Momo smiles. "I'm glad you're safe."

Sana feels butterflies in her stomach.

Jihyo sighs and breaks the magic. "Sweet. I'll leave you two alone."

"Wait, you don't have to—" Sana tries to stop her because it's just how she was wired at this point.

But Jihyo just smirks as she gets up. "You lost an arm. Let your bondmate soothe your pain. Come back to me once you've healed." She leaves the room, closing the door.

Momo is by Sana's side in seconds. She touches her cheek with a tenderness that shouldn't be possible for a merciless killing machine, bringing their foreheads together. "I missed you."

Sana giggles like a teenager in love. "You always say that." Then tilts her face to kiss her. They kiss like it's their last day on Earth. The chances they have to be alone like this are too rare to waste.

Momo peppers kisses down her neck, her collarbones, and finally her wounded shoulder. She pulls back to look at it. "I want to kill."

"Jihyo would be mad."

Momo wants to say something dangerous about this statement, so Sana shuts her up with another kiss. She brings her hand to Momo's scalp, pulling her closer. Momo licks her mouth and bites her lower lip. Sana grunts in pleasure.

"Good thing you're shirtless." Momo breathes out. Before she can continue, Momo licks her lips and stops, tasting something. "What have you been eating? Your mouth tastes good."

Sana chuckles and pulls Momo down with her on Jihyo's bed. "I just talked to someone."

"Talked, huh?" Momo kisses her again. "Tell me more..."

"She's a girl I've been wanting to claim." Sana keeps talking as Momo kisses down her body. She sighs, relaxed for once. "But someone's been protecting her."

"And who's that?"

"Minari."

Momo stops for a second, then continues, going lower. "Haven't heard this name in a while."

"She's still out there, searching for something no one can truly give her." Sana looks at the ceiling, caressing Momo's scalp. "It's sad to watch."

"And this girl you've been talking to?"

"Nayeon."

"What is she to Mina?"

Sana thinks. "Another vessel for her loneliness."

Momo hums, pulling Sana's pants down. "All these years and you still care for Mina, don't you?"

Sana's breathing hitches when Momo kisses the inside of her thigh. "I d-don't."

"You're a terrible liar."

"I'm not. I don't know." Sana closes her eyes. "It's hard not to."

Momo pulls herself up to look at Sana. She lowers her voice. "Do you care for her, or do you just want to hang onto that hope that she could break our curse?"

Sana stares back. "She can't. At least not alone."

"And this is where this Nayeon comes in." Momo knows her too well. "What's so special about this human?" She kisses Sana's neck.

"Nothing, really. She just has a knack for attracting trouble for herself." Sana thinks about it. "And she's writing a journal about us."

"Us?"

"Vampires. I've been telling her stuff."

Momo laughs. "Hypocrite."

"What?" Sana asks then yelps when Momo pinches her side.

"You say you hate meddlers, but here you are, encouraging this Nayeon to meddle."

"That's not what I'm doing." Sana pouts.

"Right." Momo kisses her deeply. "I'm tired of talking."

Sana's eyes shine. "Then don't talk."

Their bodies to the rest of the work and Sana's heart falls back into place for the first time in weeks. Momo is her heart, her soul, her entire galaxy. To be stripped away from her is much too cruel.

Momo was right. Deep down, Sana still hangs onto an impossible hope.

\--

Mina gets home somehow, dragging her feet across the carpet. Her house had always been quiet. She's never had a roommate ever since she moved to this country. Her eyes are heavy from crying so much and she plops on the bed, face down on the pillow. She feels nothing.

Despite wanting to be punished by her horrible deeds, Mina can't take the crushing loneliness of her thoughts. She's been living like this for six years, and it has never gotten better. She needed attention. A distraction. Someone.

Mina gets up and reaches for her phone. She clicks on the Instagram logo and the screen pops up. She scrolls through her timeline for a bit, liking the posts of her fellow trainees and friends who have debuted before her. They're all smiling and beautiful.

Then she moves to her live stream option and clicks on it.

Mina waits until the number of viewers starts to increase. She hasn't streamed in a while, so people started coming in slowly, all surprised at the sudden apparition. She had quite a dedicated fanbase from her prior years as a solo singer.

"Hey, everyone." Mina's voice is hoarse. "Thought I'd say hi for a bit."

_'im studying rn but helLO fhHFJFJ'_

Mina let's out a weak chuckle. "Please study well. This won't be very exciting, I was just feeling kind of lonely."

_'hey it's been a while'_

"It has. I'm sorry for disappearing for so long." Mina sighs, rubbing her red eyes.

_'omg how do you just get prettier each time we see you?'_

"Professional makeup artists and drinking lots of water. I guess."

_'Hows preparation been going Minari?Hope you've been doing well with your duo'_

She bites her lower lip. "It's been good. You'll like her a lot.”

_'how was your day'_

"Tough." Mina turns on her back to hold her phone up. "It's been a hard day. Idols have those, don't let them fool you."

_'It's been a long time. You still look the same :)'_

"I still feel the same, too. People should grow, so that kind of sucks."

_'Oooooh long time no see! What's new with you???'_

Mina hums. "We have a debut song ready. And a group name. I don't think I can share those, so I'll let you guess."

_'Was about to sleep but fuck that hi how are you!!!!'_

"I almost cursed on the stream." She holds her tongue.

_'Lots of love from Canada~ '_

Mina does a finger heart. "Lots of love from Korea."

_'Has she been a good partner?'_

She feels an involuntary smile. "Yeah. Probably the best I could've asked for.”

_'Mina ilysm please marry me or at least hire me to be your maid'_

This makes her laugh. "Please come clean my house, it's been a mess for weeks. Then I'll marry you."

_'did you catch a cold? i hope you okay, '_

"Uh, yeah. I've been kind of sick. It's getting better.”

_'Is your partner pretty? '_

"The prettiest. Don't tell her that, she'll get full of herself." She grins.

_'excited for your debut!! describe your partner? we heard youre a duo '_

"Hmm... annoying, a drama queen... but she has the most incredible voice I've ever heard.”

_'is she super cute? '_

Mina rolls on her stomach again, a smile attached to her face. "You're just trying to get me to compliment her. You'll see when we debut." She pauses. "She's kind of cute, maybe."

For a second she wonders if Nayeon is watching her stream. She hoped so.

_'is practice hard or tiring? make sure to rest well~'_

Mina doesn't feel tired, but she had to remember that normal humans did. "Yeah, very tiring. But we warm up well and always drink water after practice, so it's okay." Suddenly, a familiar name pops up on the stream. "Oh. Everyone, my partner is in the chat." Mina's chest becomes warm. "She's hiding among the fast comments, but I saw her."

_'oh, who???'_

"Don't try to blend in, I see you clearly."

_'damn i was trying to be stealthy'_

"You didn't even bother to log in with a different account!"

_'omg who is she'_

"I'm gonna tell your name for everyone to know." Mina teases.

_'nooooo i want it to be a surprise!! my face reveal is important :('_

"Then stop spamming comments, people will find you."

_'mina im gaining followers.'_

"What I just said, doofus." Mina laughs.

_'ok but it was worth it, you called me cute :3'_

Mina almost blushes. "Don't ever use this emoji ever again."

_'omg are we witnessing a couple fight'_

"We're not a couple." Mina pinches the bridge of her nose. "Look what you've done, Nayeon."

_'her name is Nayeon!!'_

"...Frick."

'yeah we're not couple, dont make it weird.'

Mina's heart sinks at this comment. Of course they weren't. "Yeah. We're just friends." She sighs. "I should probably end this stream."

_'want me to call you?'_

Mina wants to say yes, but she doesn't know if she should. "I'm going, everyone. Thank you for keeping me company." She says finally, waving at the camera. "Please anticipate our debut, we're coming soon."

She turns off the app and sighs. Her phone rings immediately after. She sees Nayeon's name on the screen and decides to answer.

"Fans are wild and I love them." Is the first thing Nayeon says. It's quite incredible, how much her voice soothes Mina.

"You need to be careful with what you say." Mina replies, grinning softly. "Also, you should probably delete your account."

"Yeah, that was a dumb move, huh?"

"A very dumb move." Mina chuckles.

"You sounded really tired." Nayeon speaks again. "Did you... find out what happened to the hunter?"

Mina knows Nayeon is just worried, but her mood drops completely again. She hugs her knees against her chest. "...Yes."

Nayeon fears the worst and keeps quiet. She waits for Mina's decision to tell her or not. "She's alive." Mina says, finally. "But really hurt. She won't be hunting again."

"Oh." Nayeon sounds relieved and Mina frowns. "At least... she's alive."

Mina gets mad at this. "What?"

"I mean, at least Sana didn't kill her, right?" Nayeon replies. "That's a good thing."

"A good thing? Nayeon, her life's purpose is gone and it's all because of me." She can't believe her. "What's the point of being alive if you'll be hurting for the rest of it?!"

It's painful. Nayeon hears Mina pouring her own pain into the words and feels terrible. She just wanted to cheer her up for a bit, but she screwed it up again. "I'm sorry, Mina, I didn't think—"

"Yeah, you didn't. You have no idea." Mina knows she's being unreasonable, but she can't stop.

And at that moment Nayeon knows she can't keep hiding things from her. "...I do have an idea."

"No, you don't. You don't know what it's like—"

"To be a Golden and be fated to fall in love with only mortals or Silvers?"

Mina freezes completely. "...Who told you that?"

"Sana."

Mina feels dizzy. "What?"

"She told me everything. She came to me one of these nights. She's still alive, but she's missing an arm." Nayeon's heart was bursting out of her chest. "And she told me about your relationship with her. I'm sorry."

It's a lot to unpack.

"She asked me to keep a journal on vampires and she tells me anything I ask. When she told me about Goldens being unable to have bondmates, my heart broke. Because I'm mortal." Nayeon hiccups, feeling the tears coming. "And she's a Silver, and you— you deserve eternal happiness."

Mina is speechless for a few minutes, trying to process everything. Then, she finally speaks. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know. I thought your hunter could deal with her and everything would be ok. I don't _know_." Nayeon's voice trembles. "I've been a horrible partner."

Mina falls back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. She should be mad, but then she starts laughing. She laughs until the tears fall. Then, she catches her breath. "So you know everything already."

"Yes."

"And you stayed anyway."

That's unexpected. "Of course I did."

"Incredible." Mina breathes out.

"Why would I leave?"

"You know I'm only using you to cope with my loneliness. You know about vampires from one of the most dangerous Silvers around. And you just... stayed. You didn't shut any of us out." Mina laughs. "You're incredible."

It hits Nayeon that this went a lot beyond just being a considerate friend. It was about treating vampires with humanity.

Nayeon didn’t think they were monsters. She thought of them as people whose destiny was cruel and sad and out of their control.

She wanted to help them.

Nayeon chooses her next words carefully. "Sana told me about... a curse. Not the curse of the Goldens, but a 400 year-old curse that you tried to free her from." She takes a deep breath. "Would you tell me what it is?"

Mina didn't expect Sana to talk about this ever again. "...Ok." She knows she shouldn't be talking about this, but Mina wasn't mentally stable enough to think properly. She wanted someone to confide in. "Sana has a bondmate. They were lovers when they were human, and remained lovers when they were turned together 400 years ago."

"They were already lovers when they were human?" Nayeon says, in shock. "But... back then..."

"She told me they were part of the same village. They were simple farmers who grew up together. She didn't want a man. Back then, Sana already knew she was the one. Her name is Momo. Sana and Momo were, of course, chased out of the village when the people caught them kissing. But they didn't care. They ran away for days, until they were out of sight from the torches and weapons thrown at them." Mina sighs. "Of course, after that they had to survive somehow."

"They managed to survive on dirty water from the river and some small animals Momo managed to catch, but after weeks, they started getting sick and too weak to hunt. They knew the end was coming for them, but they didn't care. They were together." Mina almost smiles. "Romantic."

"That night, they were laying together on the ground, looking up at the stars. Hand in hand, Sana told me. They were ready to leave this cruel life and find each other in the next one." Mina shivers. "But then, they heard a noise. And soon, they saw a woman. A vampire."

"And then?" Nayeon asks, anxious.

"This woman... she told them she had been watching them. From the moment they left the village until now. She called them brave warriors and offered them a way out."

"By turning them." Nayeon guesses.

"Yes. Alive together, for eternity. Sana laughed, back then. She told her that an eternal life was worse than death for people like them." Mina shifts on the bed. "But then, the vampire offered them something extra. A chance to take revenge on the village that exiled them. The power to destroy everyone." She stops to take a deep breath. "And I think that the only reason they accepted it was because of how tired they were. From the misery, from the pain, from this world. If the world wanted to kill them, then they just had to kill the world first. And so, they were turned."

Nayeon feels her stomach churning. "That's..."

"It's hard to imagine, right? The things they went through 400 years ago. A different time altogether." Mina shrugs. "I can't really judge them based on today's standards and my own values."

"I guess not." It's heavy.

"In the end, that village was no more. They murdered everyone in their path. Their old friends, the village leader, the animals. Their own parents. Nothing was left, only a bloody trail of destruction. And they drank it all."

Nayeon really couldn't fathom such atrocity.

"Afterwards, the vampire asked Sana and Momo if they regretted what they had done. They said they didn't. This new form, this new power was incredible. They were thankful." Mina swallows dry. "And the vampire only asked one thing in return. They had to submit to her completely."

"At that time, I don't think they realized exactly what she meant. So, they agreed. The vampire made them undergo a certain ritual, and that's how they became her retainers. Old servants, faithful to her and no one else, for the rest of their immortal lives."

Nayeon shivers. Sana's words that night come back to her and she asks. "Is this vampire they serve... the leader of Sana's coven?"

Mina freezes. "She told you about her?"

"Not really—"

"Did she tell you her name?"

"N-no! She didn't want me to get involved."

Mina sighs, relieved. "Good."

"What's up with her name?" Nayeon is curious despite everything.

Mina closes her eyes. "Her name has power, especially if a vampire in her coven says it to someone outside of it. She'll know, and she'll find whoever it is." She opens her eyes. "And most likely, she'll kill you."

Sana was protecting her. Nayeon almost chuckles, but just shakes her head. "Alright, so no names. We'll call her Big Bitch, then."

That makes Mina smile. "A fitting name."

"Go on. What exactly is their curse, then? Just... having to serve Big Bitch forever?"

"Not only that."

Mina sighs. "Big Bitch is too powerful. She is... not the first vampire in the world, but it wouldn't surprise me if she was the second, or third. She's thousands of years old. And she has powers no one else does."

Nayeon knew this couldn't be good. "Oh. Fuck?"

"If Sana or Momo step out of line... disobey her in any shape or form, or just piss her off when she's in a bad mood, she could destroy the only thing that's been keeping them alive."

"What?" Nayeon asks.

"Their bond." Mina breathes out. "She can cut bonds from Silvers."

Nayeon feels a chill down her spine. "Ripping away your soulmate from you..."

"Cutting a bond means looking at the one you've been in love with your whole life and suddenly feel nothing for them. But bonds go both ways. So while one feels nothing, the other still loves them." Mina sighs. "Big Bitch constantly threatens to cut Momo's bond. She would become her doll, completely numbed. But Sana wouldn't be affected. Can you imagine having your soulmate of 400 years taken away from you while you beg them to remember you?"

Nayeon feels sick.

"That's their curse." Mina finishes. "The two of them are bound to her wishes for eternity, without a choice or free will to deny her. And they've been like this for 400 years."

Nayeon didn't know what was worse at this point. Being a vampire was too painful. She tries to focus on the matter at hand. "And how do you break this curse? What did you want to do?"

"Sana, she... she told me how. But she only did it because she knew there's no way I could do it on my own." She sighs. "The only way to end it is to kill the Bitch."

Nayeon pieces the information together. "So you tried to help Sana after she told you that. You tried to come up with a plan to kill the Bitch. That's when Sana stopped protecting you. Because she couldn't go against her."

"Yes. I think that she didn't want me to die trying." Mina bites her lower lip. "I pinned for Sana, you know. I knew of her history with Momo, but Sana was a flirt. I think that since the Bitch didn't allow them to be together for long, Sana had to seek relief in others. I wanted to be one of them." Mina laughs shyly. "As always, I didn't want to be alone."

"Sana never gave me what I wanted. I saw her kissing other vampires, seducing humans, but never me. I don't know why." Mina sighs. "After I told her I genuinely wanted to help her break the curse, she got mad. That's when she told me about _my_ curse. That no one would love me."

"After that, she just... shut me out for good. Stopped talking to me altogether. My heart was breaking and the one vampire who took care of me after I was turned didn't want to see my face. So, I left the coven." Mina ends the story. "That's the whole tragedy."

Nayeon feels exhausted at the end of it all. She knew that Sana only shut Mina out to protect her, even if it was cruel. And Mina still cares for Sana, in her own way. The real enemy here was Big Bitch. Nayeon would make sure to write this down on her journal.

"Alright, one more question before I literally pass out." Nayeon speaks. "If killing Big Bitch can break Sana and Momo's curse... can't it break yours too?"

Mina keeps quiet for a moment. "I... don't know? Their curse is linked to the Bitch. Mine isn't."

"Hm. I see." A pause. "Well, I'm gonna sleep now and try not to have nightmares." Nayeon yawns and Mina smiles.

"Sorry for keeping you."

"Don't worry. I'm glad you told me. Now my journal makes more sense." She grins. "Goodnight, Mina."

"Sleep well, Nayeonnie."

They hang up and Mina frowns.

Nayeon's words keep playing inside her mind as Mina puts on her pajamas. She never considered that the two curses could be linked. She thinks about Goldens, and how they only started appearing recently. Thinks about Jihyo and the mysterious powers she had.

A coincidence? Maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on twitter @niigoki_


	10. Chapter 10

"Drink one more." Chaeyoung pushes another blood bag towards Tzuyu and the vampire frowns.

"You just gave me three bags in a row."

"Yeah, but one more."

"Why?"

"Uh, it's Spoil Tzuyu day! Right, Dubu?" Chaeyoung looks at Dahyun.

"That's everyday, Chaeng." Dahyun smiles. Chaeyoung stares at her, encouraging Dahyun to go with it, and Dahyun rolls her eyes. "Yeah, it's fine if you take one more. Spoil Tzuyu day is very important in this household."

"But we shouldn't waste bags like this." Tzuyu isn't convinced.

Then, someone knocks on the door. Tzuyu turns to look and her nose smells something delicious. Chaeyoung catches her eyes shining and pushes the blood bag on her face. "DRINK THIS, TZU."

Tzuyu finally agrees, still confused.

Dahyun gets up and opens the door. "Hey! Welcome to the freak show."

Nayeon frowns.

Chaeyoung waves from the kitchen table where she is. "Hi! Come in, come in!"

Nayeon does, then freezes when she catches a Silver next to the doc, drinking from what apparently is a blood bag. "Uh."

Tzuyu keeps sucking and waves too.

Nayeon just sighs. "I'm not even gonna ask."

After Tzuyu is done with her evening meal, the four of them move to the comfortable couch on the living room. Dahyun turns on the TV just to have some sound going on – this meeting didn't have to be weirder than it already was.

No one speaks.

Yeah, it was really weird.

"Right! Introductions!" Chaeyoung says suddenly, a crooked smile on her face. "Tzuyu, this is Nayeon, the one I saved from heatstroke that day."

"You know about vampires." It isn't a question, just a statement from Tzuyu.

"I do." Nayeon replies. "Nice to meet you."

"Hm."

The way Tzuyu stares at her is weirdly analytical and Nayeon doesn't really know what to make of it. She realizes that one side of Tzuyu's face is scarred. Not to mention her prosthetic legs. Whoever did this to her really didn't want this girl to hunt again.

"And Nayeon, this is Tzuyu, our other roommate." Dahyun interrupts the staring contest, afraid of what it meant. She never saw Tzuyu look so serious before.

Tzuyu shifts away from Nayeon without a word, avoiding looking at her face. Well, this was going to be a long night.

"A-anyway, I'm so happy you came." Chaeyoung interjects. "Are you hungry? I already ate, but–"

"Oh, no, I had dinner before coming." Nayeon says. "I wanted to just... talk with you guys."

"Right. Vampire talk. Important stuff!"

Tzuyu gets up. "I'm going to stream."

"Tzu?" Chaeyoung gets up too, worried. Tzuyu touches the wall, grunting at the badly adjusted legs.

"Don't worry about me. You can talk." Tzuyu doesn't look at them. "You know where to find me if you need me."

Nayeon feels tense suddenly. The vampire didn't want to be there.

After she's gone Chaeyoung sits back down, dropping her shoulders. "Sorry about that. She's usually not so..."

"Defensive?" Nayeon speaks. She shakes her head. "No, it's fine. I probably made her uncomfortable."

"Tzuyu hasn't talked to anyone else but us in years." Dahyun nods.

"That explains it." Nayeon tries to make sense of how hostile Tzuyu was to her. She fidgets with the hem of her shirt for a bit. "Can I ask... what happened to her? I mean, her legs and..."

Chaeyoung and Dahyun exchange looks. "We don't know. We found her like that."

"Found her where exactly?" Nayeon's investigative instincts start to kick in.

"I found her in an alley." Chaeyoung's voice weakens, like it hurts to remember. "She was alone and whimpering. Like she had just been beaten and left for dead like that."

Nayeon's heart tightens.

"Hunters..." Nayeon mutters to herself. She frowns, remembering Sana's words. "Or maybe other Silvers? She did mention Silvers were territorial and angry..."

Dahyun and Chaeyoung stare at her. "Uh, what?"

Nayeon looks up at them. "Ah, just... thinking out loud."

"Hunters?" Dahyun echoes her words. "What do you mean?"

Nayeon has to remember that these girls knew nothing about this world like she did. She feels a tad proud of her knowledge, for some bizarre reason. She breathes deeply. "I have a lot to tell you about vampires."

So, she does.

She tells them about her experiences; about how Goldens can erase memories and Silvers can't; about hunters and how they're hired to kill vampires; about covens and how Tzuyu probably was part of one but was probably banished. Nayeon tells them things.

She doesn't mention names, still shaken from what Mina told her about the Big Bitch. She's afraid of getting Mina or Sana in trouble, somehow. But she tells them about her journal and how she's been trying to gather intel. She really wanted to talk to Tzuyu for more info.

After she's done, she gives Chaeyoung and Dahyun some time to let it all sink in. They look shaken at the sheer magnitude of it all.

Dahyun finally speaks first. "So... these hunters... would they kill me too if I met one on the street?"

She looks so scared. Nayeon hurts for her. "No, no, I don't think so. I mean—" She realizes that Mina never quite explained how hunters chose their prey. But if Mina was friends with them, then they probably had some agreement going on. "Goldens aren't exactly a threat. They... focus on Silvers. I guess."

"You guess."

"I mean... as long as you're not murdering people, then you're probably safe." Nayeon sighs. "I don't really know. I'm sorry."

Dahyun looks down, shaking one leg up and down. "Hired to catch murderers, huh..." She mumbles to herself, thinking deeply.

Then, Chaeyoung mutters. "Covens..." She looks up at Nayeon. "You think that Tzuyu was part of one? And she... did something wrong, which made them kick her out?"

"These are all theories. I can't be sure. That's why I wanted to talk to her." Nayeon looks at the hallway where Tzuyu had walked to. "She could help me."

Chaeyoung bites her lower lip, then gets up. "I'll go get her."

Dahyun snaps out of her daze. "Are you sure? All of this seem to be an extra sensitive subject."

"Well, how can we help her if she just won't tell us anything??" Chaeyoung sounds incredibly frustrated.

"Chaeng, I know you're upset, but—" Dahyun tries.

"But what? Dubs, she's been tormented by something all these years, and it's been eating her alive. She cried on me the other day, said she deserved what happened to her. It just..." She breathes deeply. "It breaks my heart."

Nayeon feels like she's intruding on a very personal matter, but it's too late to back down now. If this could help Tzuyu somehow, then she had to try. Her reasons weren't selfless, Nayeon was very curious, but she still wanted to help.

Always wanting to help vampires.

Chaeyoung opens the door to Tzuyu's room. She was streaming with her headphones on, so Chaeyoung has to touch her shoulder to announce her presence. Tzuyu looks away from the screen. "Yes?"

"Can we talk? With Nayeon?"

She hesitates. Her character dies on-screen.

Tzuyu finally agrees, following Chaeyoung towards the living room. When she sees Nayeon, she stops, then moves all the way to the opposite side, sitting far away from her. Nayeon doesn't understand why she's so repulsed by her. Was it her blood? Shouldn't she be attracted to it?

"Tzuyu, I'd like to ask you a few questions, if that's ok?" Nayeon says, carefully. She didn't want to shut her out.

"You can ask." Tzuyu answers.

"Right. Before Chaeyoung found you... were you part of a coven?"

Tzuyu's knuckles go white. "I don't want to talk about it."

This time, Chaeyoung is the one who turns to her. "Tzu, please. Talk to us. Seeing you hurt yourself over something that happened in your past is breaking me inside."

Tzuyu frowns. "There's no good in talking about this. It's gone. It's never coming back. Stop."

"Is that why you stay here? Because they can't come into a home without being invited?" Nayeon pushes the subject, and by the way Tzuyu looks at her, she thinks she nailed it. "Are you running from someone?"

"Stop it!" Tzuyu gets up, her wobbly legs nearly cracking.

Chaeyoung holds her into place, looking at her in the eyes. "We want to help you! Whoever you're running from, we can... there are hunters that can help! They can get rid of them."

"No!" Tzuyu could shake herself free easily, but she'd hurt Chaeyoung if she did. "Please, stop..."

Dahyun watches the scene unfold with no clue of what she should be doing. Nayeon gets up and gets close. Tzuyu steps back, dragging Chaeyoung with her. "Stay away from me!"

"Why is my presence such a burden to you?" Nayeon asks.

"Because you smell like _them_!" Tzuyu yells.

"Like who??" Nayeon's heart is gonna burst. She feels like she's so close to some kind of breakthrough—

"Like Sana! And Momo, and Mina, and those children, and JIHYO!" Tzuyu stops and puts her hands over her mouth, mortified.

The chill down Nayeon's spine is worse than anything.

\--

The effect is immediate.

Jihyo opens her one eye, her concentration breaking. She blinks, feels the air around her, then frowns. Usually, the feeling was like a small fish breaking the water's surface. Once. But this? The ripples in the water wouldn't stop.

Like echoes.

It doesn't take long for her to realize why.

Her jaw clenches and she speaks. "Sana."

Sana opens her eyes by her side. "Yes?"

"I'm going to need you to find the hunter who took your arm." Her voice is neutral like always, but with an edge.

Sana simply gets up. "Alright." She puts her clothes back on, but struggles with her pants. Jihyo looks at Momo and nods for her to help the armless girl.

Once Sana is all dressed, she smiles at Momo for a brief second, then turns to Jihyo. "If she's alive, should I kill her?"

"No. Just get me her name."

Sana nods and jumps out of the window. Momo goes back to bed, moving the corpse they hunted to the side. "Did you feel something?"

Jihyo gestures for Momo to pass her the body. She licks the rest of blood stuck to its chest. "Yes. I want to be sure of something, though."

\--

Tzuyu is frozen in place, hands still over her mouth. Chaeyoung and Dahyun apparently felt a shift in the air as well, but they had no idea what Tzuyu was talking about. Nayeon, however, understood.

Well, at least the Big Bitch has a nice name.

"Who is Ji—" Dahyun tries to ask, but Nayeon's hands fly to her mouth.

"Don't say that name."

"Why?" Chaeyoung looks incredibly lost. "Who is that? Is she the one who's after you, Tzu?"

Tzuyu brings her hands to her hair, pulling. "I fucked up..." Tears start spilling.

Nayeon takes a moment to look around and assess the situation. A panicked Silver, a clueless Golden, and a frustrated doctor walk into a bar. Nayeon, the only one who can try to calm them down, is kind of terrified of the Big Bitch now.

She takes a deep breath. "Ok, _listen_."

Everyone turns to her, snapping out of their trance.

Nayeon gets off of Dahyun. "She knows now. I don't know what she's gonna do to me, or to you, or to the world, and frankly," Nayeon sighs. "I'm too deep into this to let it go. So Tzuyu. Please. Tell me everything."

Tzuyu's eyes are unfocused and she falls on the nearest chair. She rubs her face with the back of her hand, drying her tears, then removes her legs. They drop with a dull sound and Chaeyoung wants to hold her. Tzuyu looks lifeless.

"Ok." Tzuyu says. "We're dead anyway."

There is a single silent moment for them to sit back down, then Tzuyu talks. "I'm not running away. She doesn't want me back, because I can't be her retainer anymore. I made sure of it."

"You were... her retainer?" Like Sana and Momo, Nayeon recalls.

Tzuyu nods. She lifts what's left of her legs, then looks at Chaeyoung. "My scars, my legs. You think I was punished by my coven and banished? Jihyo doesn't let betrayers live. No one did this to me."

Chaeyoung swallows dry. "Tzu—"

"I did it to myself." She grins and it's terrifying.

Chaeyoung feels her heart dropping. "You..."

"I was so tired." Tzuyu continues. "But she wouldn't let me go. She's too powerful, you see. She gets into your head, makes you do things you don't want to do. So, I made sure I became useless to her. No legs, no retainer."

Nayeon feels the weight of her words and it hurts. Mina and Sana sounded scared of Jihyo, but seeing the result of desperation right in front of her was almost too much.

"Sana and Momo have something to fight for. I didn't." Tzuyu continues. "I don't have a bondmate."

"A what?" Dahyun asks and Nayeon hates that she's the one who asks.

Tzuyu turns her head lazily. "Something you'll never have. A soulmate who gets to live with you forever. Mine died two days after I found her. Never got to spend much time with her."

Nayeon regrets asking.

"What do you mean I'll never have one?" Dahyun is so confused.

"Tzuy—" Nayeon tries to spare her from the truth, but Tzuyu is too far gone into her own misery to care.

"Goldens are cursed to never fall in love with other Goldens. Silvers will never love you and humans will die eventually. You'll never have eternal company."

"Stop it." Nayeon begs.

"Why? I thought you wanted to know everything." Tzuyu rolls her eyes at her. "You don't get to stop me now. I've lived 200 years without a bondmate. You'll never know my pain." She looks at Dahyun. "You will. But this isn't about you."

She's scary now.

"I had barely found my bondmate, and she was staked in front of me. I escaped, because I was a coward." Tzuyu looks at the ceiling. "But Jihyo told me I was a fighter, and gave me a purpose. She said we could be a family. She had a coven. I really fell for it back then."

"I think that the only reason I stayed was because I was comforted by the fact that Sana and Momo couldn't be together. I just wanted someone like me, utterly alone. And they were, in a way." Tzuyu grins. "As long as Jihyo kept them apart, it was fine by me."

"But it wasn't really like this, was it?" Tzuyu talked more to herself than anyone in the room. "Jihyo allowed them to kiss, sometimes. And hug. Even if they were bound to her, they still had each other. I had no one." She closes her eyes. "I wanted to die."

"Stop..." Chaeyoung speaks this time, face buried in her hands. She couldn't bear listening to this.

But Tzuyu doesn't stop. "But Jihyo wouldn't allow me to die. I was her retainer, after all. Because I was so easy to control. A vampire without a bondmate is like a doll. 16 years ago, Jihyo gave me an order. Told me to kill the parents of two children. She didn't tell me why." Tzuyu blinks the tears away. "I had never murdered anyone. Even when I fed, I only drank what I had to. Killing them that night took what was left of my humanity."

Nayeon looks up at this, something in her gut telling her that this was important.

Tzuyu continues. "I tricked the kids into letting me in. Brought a stray cat to their door, knocked, asked them if I could use the phone. I knew the parents weren't home, so I waited inside."

"There was another girl with the sisters. A friend. They were having a sleepover that night." Tzuyu presses her palms into her eyes. "When the parents came back, I stroke before they could greet the kids. My hand went through the mother's torso. My teeth into the father's neck."

"The father was a hunter. He didn't die right away, but stumbled across the living room and grabbed his stake gun. I almost got hit. When I dodged, I hit a candle and the carpet caught on fire." Tzuyu bites her lip. "I threw it on the father, and he caught on fire."

"I can still hear his screams, you know? The kids were huddled together. The friend had passed out from shock. The sisters couldn't stop looking at me with horror in their eyes." Tzuyu frowns. "Then, the younger sister's gaze shifted from horror to anger. She wanted to kill me."

"After I had done what I was ordered to do, Jihyo's grasp on my mind loosened. I woke up from my daze and saw the house on fire. And the young girl. She grabbed her father's stake gun and pointed it at me." Tears fall down her cheeks. "I didn't move. I wanted to let her kill me."

"But, of course, Jihyo wouldn't let me die. She showed up before the stake hit my chest. Protected me." Tzuyu chuckles weakly. "Then, she praised me. Good job, she said. Go home. Don't tell Sana and Momo about this. I'll deal with the rest. So, I obeyed. Like always."

"Afterwards, she came into my room. I wanted to ask her if she killed the kids, but she shut me up with a kiss. Then, she whispered sweet nothings in my ear, and I let her. She wasn't my bondmate, but she took care of me after a traumatic event."

"So you stayed." Nayeon says.

"I was trapped by her words and her powers. She controls people. I hated her so much, but—" Tzuyu sobs. "But there was nowhere else for me to go."

Nayeon's knuckles are white from grasping at her shirt, but she has to ask. "What was the last straw, Tzuyu?"

Chaeyoung sobs again.

"The last straw?" Tzuyu repeats. "Was 10 years later, when she told me what she did to the kids. When she told me that she erased their memories to make them think that she was the one who killed their parents, not me."

Nayeon frowns. "Erased their memories? But—"

Tzuyu grins again.

"The last straw was when I realized that a stake won't ever be able to kill her like Sana, Momo and I thought. Because Jihyo isn't a Silver." Tzuyu opens her eyes and stare right at Nayeon. "Under that eyepatch, is a golden eye."

Nayeon feels her resolve vanishing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on twitter @niigoki_


	11. Chapter 11

Nayeon's heart beats out of control when she gets home. She really thought that Big Bitch would jump her the moment she stepped out of Chaeyoung's home, but nothing happened. After Tzuyu's confessions, Chaeyoung and Dahyun asked for privacy, nearly kicking Nayeon out. She understood.

Even inside her home, Nayeon didn't feel safe. All the things Tzuyu told her kept running through her head. Jihyo was a Golden, but she also had a Silver eye. So, was she a Half? How did that even work? But Mina told her that Goldens started appearing only recently and Jihyo was ancient, which means that Mina wasn't aware of this. The Bitch apparently wore an eyepatch to hide her golden eye. A smart move; no one would really question her if she was that powerful.

That brings Nayeon to another question: was Sana aware of this? Was Momo? Was Tzuyu the only one who knew?

"Ugh, I'm going crazy." Nayeon scratches her head and goes to her room to change clothes and try to relax. It's been a long evening.

Upon opening the door, she sees someone lying on her bed, reading her vampire journal. Sana lifts her head. "Yo!"

Nayeon slams the door shut.

"What the _fuck_ , Sana!" She yells from the corridor, back against the door, like that would prevent the vampire from opening it.

"What? I was waiting for you and you took your sweet time." Sana responds, voice muffled.

"I'm going to _garlic_ you!!"

"That's not even a verb."

Nayeon dips her head back, hitting it on the door, then sighs heavily. She turns around and opens it again. "What are you doing here?"

"Reading." Sana dangles the journal in her face. "I was hoping I could find what I was looking for here, but you're bad with names."

Nayeon yanks the journal from her hand like she isn't Jihyo's retainer and pokes her shoulder. "Vampires have no concept of privacy, do they?"

"You let me in!"

"I asked you to give me back my slipper."

"And I did!" Sana smirks and leans forward. "Even gave you a bonus, too."

Nayeon feels her cheeks reddening against her will and steps back, avoiding Sana's gaze. "Using your powers against me won't work."

"I'm not, though." Sana chuckles. "I love getting you flustered."

"Can you just—" Nayeon groans. "Tell me what you want?"

"You're no fun." Sana leans against the door frame. "Fine. The hunter you sent after me. Do you know her name?"

Nayeon flinches, remembering that the woman was paralyzed. Was Sana aware of it? "Why do you want to know?"

"I'm a very curious person." She answers.

"You don't even know if she's dead or alive. You told me yourself." Nayeon is stressed but she needs to navigate this properly. For Mina's sake.

"I want to find out."

"And if you do? Will you kill her?"

"For as much as I'd love to," Sana looks away. "I was forbidden to."

This tells Nayeon that Jihyo was the one who requested her name. She swallows dry, the chill in her spine ever-present. "You're here on behalf of your coven leader."

Sana raises an eyebrow with a grin. "Aren't you a smart girl."

"Vamps just talk too much." She grins too.

They stare at each other and for a moment Nayeon feels calm. Like she's known Sana for a long time despite all their confrontations and sarcastic encounters. It's weirdly refreshing.

Then, Sana suddenly steps forward, grabbing Nayeon by the neck. She pushes her against the wall.

Nayeon widens her eyes, her face red as she struggles to breathe. Sana gets close to her ear. "I'm kind of in a hurry, Nay. I really need to know her name."

Nayeon coughs. Sana wasn't playing around this time. Her silver eyes were shining now, and Nayeon closes hers. "Hng..."

"I don't want to hurt you." Sana's voice wavers, like she's trying to maintain her intimidating posture, but subtly failing. She was telling the truth.

Nayeon hates how she keeps playing with fire. But she feels like she knows what to do. She simply waits, not saying a word.

"So?" Sana presses, getting increasingly more frustrated. Nayeon feels light-headed now. She drops her hands and shoulders and waits. Sana's hold on her neck tightens. "Nayeon. Tell me her name."

Nayeon is going to faint soon if she keeps this up. But she stays quiet.

Before the world collapses around her, Sana releases her. Nayeon takes a deep breath, falling on her knees and coughing loudly. Her throat hurts really bad. She needs more air.

Sana kneels too and forces her to look up at her. "You're insufferable."

"J-just... like you, h-huh."

Sana grunts, baring her fangs. She's angry, Nayeon can tell. But soon after, her eyes lose their glow and she releases her, sitting down. Sana sighs and looks away, then chuckles lightly. "No wonder Mina likes you so much."

Nayeon finally breathes normally again. She sighs. They keep quiet, with Sana avoiding her gaze, thinking of a better approach to this.

Nayeon speaks. "You know... you're not that hard to figure out." She presses her palms against her eyes. "You feel the need to be threatening and evil to protect the ones you care about."

Sana scoffs. "Don't psychoanalyze me, human."

"You try to distance yourself from your humanity... because this way you don't have to feel like you're a monster," Nayeon has a headache. "You talk to me because I can hold a conversation without running away. You're so transparent."

Sana looks at her, showing her fangs. "I can turn you right here, let's see how fun it feels to be a vampire."

"Then fucking turn me already!" Nayeon slams her hands on the carpet. "You're all bark, no bite, Sana. You're miserable and you want me to understand. And I do, fuck."

For the first time Nayeon sees how a genuinely startled Sana looks like. And it's no different from any other human she's ever met. It's tragic, but relatable.

Nayeon stretches her arm. Offers a hand.

Sana blinks. Hesitates. Feels a thousand things. Then grabs her hand.

"The hunter is alive." Nayeon says. Sana's hand is cold. "But she's paralyzed, in a hospital. I don't know her name, because I wasn't the one who sent her. Mina did."

Sana squeezes her hand. "Oh."

"I'll ask her tomorrow." Nayeon squeezes back. "Can you wait?"

"...Yeah."

"Ok." Nayeon breathes out. She looks at their hands. Sana isn't as pale as she thought she'd be for a vampire. Her hand gets a little warm. "Is that all?"

Sana nods. "Yeah. Thank you." She looks at Nayeon's red neck and feels her insides twisting. Weird. She liked Nayeon, but not as much as to feel _this_ wrecked with guilt over hurting her. "...I'm sorry."

Nayeon smiles. "I forgive you." The two help each other get up and Nayeon presses the bridge of her nose with two fingers. "I need to eat and sleep."

Sana chuckles. "Same."

Nayeon stops. "...You haven't eaten yet?"

"Nah. I need to hunt now."

"Can you hunt like this?" Nayeon stares at her one arm.

"You underestimate me." Sana smirks. Then she steps closer. "But I mean... I do have a perfectly good meal right here."

Nayeon looks up at her. The words out of her mouth surprise her. "Yeah. So, what's stopping you?"

Sana freezes when Nayeon turns her neck to her. This girl loves the fire, apparently. She keeps playing with it, taunting, risking herself like this. Nayeon doesn't even know why. She remembers the last time she did that to Mina and how harsh her reaction was. But Mina didn't drink from her.

How different were Mina and Sana?

Sana's eyes shine faintly. She dips her head down, nose brushing over Nayeon's jaw. It tickles, but Nayeon stays still. Did she go too far? Was she wrong about this?

Nayeon feels a simple kiss on her neck, then Sana pulls back, struggling to keep a smirk on. "You're absolutely insane."

Nayeon feels like all her bones turned to jelly. She nearly falls down again. "Maybe I am."

Sana turns around and moves away, walking to the window. "All bark no bite, huh?" She turns to look at Nayeon one last time. "Goodnight, Nay."

Nayeon smiles softly. "Night, Sana."

\--

Mina arrives early at the company, wanting to warm her voice up without interruptions or feelings to hold her back. Despite everything, she still wanted to focus on debuting.

Her lips curl up when she starts singing. She loves how powerful her voice feels. She loves singing. It's weird, how light she feels now that she told Nayeon everything; from covens, to curses, to her history with tragic love. And Nayeon didn't shut her out like she imagined she would. She stayed.

And she would walk through that door soon and probably make a joke. Mina grins.

After her voice, Mina starts warming up her muscles. She bends over, stretches, grunts at the good pain she feels in the morning when she exercises. Smiles again.

She looks at the clock. Nayeon should be arriving soon. She really missed her today, for some reason.

Time passes and Nayeon is still not here. Did she oversleep? Strange, she's never been late like this. The voice coach arrives first and Mina gets worried.

"Good morning," The woman says, then looks around. "Where is Nayeon?"

"Not here yet, ma'am." Mina replies.

"Well, let's start with you." The coach sits down at the piano and promptly starts playing the keys. Mina sings along with the melody, trying her best not to let her worries choke her.

It's 10am when they're done and Nayeon is still nowhere in sight. Mina has a bad feeling.

She goes for her phone when the coach leaves the room, but there are no messages. If Nayeon was sick she would let her know, right? Mina debates if she should call her or not. She settles for a text message. Calling would be too much, right?

 _'Where are you?'_ She sends.

When Nayeon doesn't immediately answer, Mina starts biting her nails. What was going on? Did someone get her? Was she safe? Had she been kidnapped? Did a vampire bite her? Did she turn? Was she a Golden? A Silver?

Mina suffocates at all the thoughts and gets up, running.

Before she can reach the door, Nayeon opens it, and the two nearly knock each other down. "Whoa!"

Mina stops, her heart suddenly back in place again. "Where were you?!"

Nayeon blinks, rubs her eyes. "I was..." She yawns. "Very tired. My goddamn alarm was turned off. Sorry!"

Mina lets out a heavy sigh and just hugs her. Nayeon chuckles, confused. "What? Don't tell me you were worried."

"Shut up. You're always getting into trouble, of course I was worried." Mina mumbles, ashamed of herself now. She was fine. Nayeon was fine. Everything was ok.

When she pulls back, Mina notices her neck. It's red, but not bite-red. More like choke-red. Mina caresses her skin lightly. "What happened here?"

Nayeon shivers at the touch, then takes Mina's hand in hers. "I need to talk to you after class. About... many things." She's tired.

Mina frowns, but nods in understanding. Then, the dance coach arrives, and they have to focus on other things. Like their career.

They're perfectly coordinated when they dance, now. Nayeon is surprised at how her body responds to Mina's movements. It's natural. The coach praises them.

It's finally lunch time and the two want to head to the roof. They need a bit of peace and quiet and private time to themselves. Besides, Mina missed having Nayeon all to herself lately.

But their way up is interrupted by Mr. Park. "Hey, Vermillon! A word, please?"

"Good afternoon, Mr. Park." They bow and he smiles back.

"Come to my office, will you? It won't take long."

The two girls exchange gazes, then follow him. Upon entering, they sit down in front of his table and wait.

Mr. Park grins at his computer. "So. Your debut date."

Nayeon instinctively grabs Mina's hand.

"I've seen your progress and you're farther ahead than I predicted. Good job, girls." He nods. "So, I talked to the marketing team and they went ahead and created a logo, a cover for your single, and set dates for your promotions."

He turns his computer screen to them and shows them all the promo materials for their debut. And it's wonderful.

Everything is dark red with some black spots adorning the corners of their single's cover. Their logo is minimalistic and wonderful.

And they'll debut in 2 weeks.

"What do you think of this date? Can you do it?" Mr. Park asks.

Mina looks at Nayeon, but the girl is too lost in her own world to answer him. So, she talks on her behalf. "We can do it, of course!"

He smiles. "Good! We're recording the MV in two days. Work hard 'til then!"

The girls leave his office with a deep bow. They walk to the cafeteria, completely forgetting about their private time in the roof.

Mina pokes Nayeon. "Are you alive?"

"Mina?"

"Yes?"

"I want to think of a fandom name."

Mina laughs and loves her, maybe.

And it's Mina's laughter and genuine joy that makes Nayeon snap out of it.

She doesn't have the luxury to think about debuting. Not when she hasn't told Mina the things she's been through yesterday. About Sana. About Tzuyu.

About Jihyo.

 _What am I doing?_ Nayeon thinks.

"Mina... Mina, stop." Nayeon shakes her head. "I need to talk to you. I really do. Before we think about any of this."

Mina stops and looks at her. "Oh, s-sure. Sorry, I was just so excited—"

"I know." Nayeon sighs. "I want to be, too. But this is important."

They finish eating and leave for their next class. Mina is worried again now that Nayeon isn't freaking out about being an idol like she used to. Nayeon is serious and looks more... mature? Not physically, but mentally.

It's weird to see her not being her goofy self.

In the evening, after obligatory classes are over, Nayeon asks a staff member if they can use a sound-proof room to practice composing. After getting the keys, Mina and Nayeon sit down and lock the door.

Nayeon feels better knowing that no one could hear them now.

"Ok, so." Nayeon crosses her arms and leans back on her chair. "Fuck, where do I even start..."

Mina raises an eyebrow. "Maybe start from what happened to your neck?"

"No, that was after everything else." Nayeon dismisses her.

"Okay...? Then start from the beginning."

"Right..." Nayeon takes a deep breath. "So, Big Bitch might be after me."

Mina gets up, knocking her chair down. "WHAT?"

Nayeon freezes. "Wait. Shit, that was a bad way to start. Pretend you didn't hear that."

"Nayeon!"

"Wait, I have things to say! Sit back down."

Mina puts the chair back up and sits, still angry. "Explain."

"Right. Well, that day when we had to leave early, I was knocked down by a cat, a Golden, and the doc who saved me from heatstroke."

Mina stares at her. "What."

"Are you going to interrupt me all the time?"

Mina huffs and gestures her to continue.

"Good. Anyway, turns out that the Golden, Dahyun, lives with doc Chaeyoung. They also live with a Silver. And since they were the first... friendly vamps I met besides you, I wanted to talk to them, see if we could exchange information. So I went to their house yesterday to meet them." Nayeon drops her shoulders; it hurt to remember. "Well, it turns out... Dahyun and Chaeyoung didn't know anything. About hunters, or covens, or the curse of the Goldens."

Mina frowns. "And you told them?"

"Yes. Some of it."

"And the Silver?" Mina asks, arms crossed.

Nayeon sighs. "Mina... you said that the Bitch only had two retainers. Momo and Sana."

"Yes?"

"But she had three." Nayeon looks at her. "The Silver that lives with Chaeyoung and Dahyun was also her retainer. Her name is Tzuyu."

Mina frowns and then widens her eyes. "Tzuyu... like, Chou Tzuyu?"

"Uh... maybe? She looked foreign."

Mina grabs her phone, searches for something, then finds a picture of Tzuyu's stream she had saved. "This Tzuyu? The League streamer?"

Nayeon blinks. "Oh, that's her."

Mina drops her phone. "My favorite streamer was the Bitch's retainer??"

Nayeon reminisces something. "Wait, she did say she was going to stream when I was there." Then she blinks. " _That’s_ the streamer you were watching that day??"

The two keep quiet. What a coincidence.

"A-anyway, go on." Mina already has a headache.

"Well, nerd or not, she told me something really important. Something that I think no one else but her knows. And I need to tell you." Nayeon feels her throat closing. "And I need you to not freak out."

"That's not helping."

Nayeon breathes in. "She spoke the Bitch's name out loud, so whatever is going to happen to me now doesn't matter. I might die tomorrow, or today, so I need you to know that under the Bitch's eyepatch is a golden eye."

Mina shakes her head. "What?"

"Jihyo is half Golden, Mina."

Mina is, technically, already dead. She's a vampire – she died the moment someone sucked her dry and left her on an alley 6 years ago.

Still, she feels like she died again.

"Half Golden...? Then... we can't kill her... that easily..." Mina's voice is weak.

Nayeon hugs her. "I'm sorry."

Mina hugs her back, buries her nose on Nayeon's neck. Her heart is breaking.

Despite everything Sana did to her, cast her away, told her no one would love her, treated her harshly—

Mina still hoped she could free her from the curse.

After allowing herself to feel, Mina pulls back and starts to rationalize again. "This is... this makes no sense, though. Goldens only started existing recently. The Bitch is thousands of years old."

"How do we know that?"

"Huh?"

"Sana told me, when she asked me to keep a journal, that no one in the world had ever recorded vampire history before. Isn't it weird?" Nayeon thinks about it. "It's almost as if everyone who tried just... stopped."

"Or got killed for trying." Mina concludes.

Nayeon suddenly feels more vulnerable than she already was. "Sana told me that she had some things written, though. Maybe from her 400 vampire years. She wanted to be a historian."

"You think she would know about the Goldens true existence?"

"Maybe. It's worth asking her."

Mina doesn't know why, but she smirks a little. "You two keep in touch, don't you?"

Nayeon avoids her gaze. "S-sometimes."

"Right." Mina sighs. "For as much as I don't like you meddling into the Bitch's coven... maybe Sana can answer our questions."

That surprises Nayeon. "You're not gonna try to stop me?”

"When have I ever managed to stop you? You found out more things about the Bitch in weeks than I did in years." Mina chuckles. "It's like you were born for this or something."

"I just wanted to debut." Nayeon whines and Mina chuckles.

A comfortable silence settles in; Nayeon remembers something else. "Oh, Tzuyu told me one more thing."

"What is it?"

"About something Jihyo made her do–" She stops. "Is it okay for me to say her name?"

"Yeah, you're not a vampire or part of her coven. It's fine."

"Thank God. Anyway, 16 years ago, Jihyo made her kill the parents of two kids. No reason. After she was done, Jihyo told her to go back home and to not talk to Sana or Momo about it. Then, Jihyo erased the kids' memories to make them think she was the one who killed their parents."

Mina freezes. "...Was there a fire in the house after that?"

Nayeon blinks. "She did mention that the carpet caught on fire. I think so, yes."

Suddenly, Mina's eyes were brimmed with tears. "Jeongyeon and Seungyeon... it wasn't her. It was Tzuyu...?"

"What?"

"My hunters… The sisters I mentioned, the hunters I know... Seungyeon is the older sister. She's the one I sent after Sana."

Nayeon bites her tongue.

"Jeongyeon is the youngest." Mina continues. "They lost their parents when they were kids, but all these years they thought..."

"They thought it was Jihyo." Nayeon finishes the sentence.

"Jeong is so caught up in revenge. She wanted to stake the Bitch for years." Mina buries her face in hands. "Fuck, she can't even die if she's staked, she's half Golden. This is the worst possible scenario."

Something is bugging Nayeon. "Tzuyu mentioned that they had a friend over that night."

"Yeah. Me." Mina says, her voice hoarse. "When I was turned and taken in by Sana, I didn't know she was part of the Bitch's coven. When I found out, I couldn't tell Jeong. I left her for good."

"Woah, wait, wait. You were the kid? You knew Tzuyu and Jihyo?" Nayeon is so lost.

"The Bitch erased my memories too, probably. I watch Tzuyu's streams, but I have no memories of her from that night. I only knew the Bitch." Mina rubs her temples. "God, everything is connected."

Mina continues. "Jeong and Seung were hypnotized by hunters right after the fire, when they were kids. They grew up thinking it was an accident. Then, 10 years later, I turned into a vampire. That triggered Jeong's memories. Because I was there with them that night."

"...Wait! You were turned the year Jihyo told Tzuyu about her secret of being half Golden! That's when Tzuyu left, she said it was the last straw." Nayeon's brain is running wild. "And now Jihyo wants to know Seungyeon's name, but for what?"

Mina frowns. "She wants what?"

"...Oh." Nayeon grimaces, then sighs. She really can't hide this from Mina. "My neck is red because Sana choked me yesterday, asking for the name of the hunter who took her arm."

"What??"

"I didn't know so I didn't tell her!"

"And you _won’t_ tell her!"

"But Jihyo doesn't want to kill her!"

"What?!"

"Sana said she was forbidden from killing her, so Jihyo wants her name to... to confirm something." Nayeon grabs Mina's shoulders. "Mina, this is all Jihyo's planning, don't you see? She's been building to something, making us all meet at this exact moment in time for something!"

"You're crazy." Mina says.

"I'm _not_! Jihyo made Tzuyu kill Jeongyeon's parents, only to make Tzuyu break down years later after she revealed her secret of being half Golden. She revealed it the exact year _you_ were turned into a Golden and got into her coven. You were there at the night of the fire, Jihyo _knows_ you. And she let you stay at her coven? Then you met Sana and fell for her and wanted to help her break the curse by killing Jihyo. Like Jeongyeon wants to kill her because she _thinks_ that Jihyo is the one who killed her parents!"

“Nayeon—"

"And then I walked into your life. Me, a nobody who got heatstroke and was saved by a doctor who _happens_ to live with Tzuyu? And now I know Jihyo's secret of being half Golden and I'm telling you, and I'll tell Sana, and you'll tell Jeongyeon and we'll come together to _kill her_!"

Nayeon breathes heavily, holding on tight to Mina's shoulders. Then she pulls back. "...Sorry."

Mina just stares. "Are you done?"

"Yes."

"Good." She raises an eyebrow. "I need a fucking break."

"Yeah. Me too."

They leave the room with many thoughts and feelings.

\--

Dahyun wakes up, opening her eyes slowly. They still stung with unshed tears from yesterday. She checks the clock on her bed stand. 11am. She was late for the meeting.

Dahyun sighs. She wasn't going to the meeting, anyway. She couldn't bring herself to tell them about the curse.

Her body feels heavy when she sits up. She takes some time to go back to the real world. It's like she's been floating since yesterday. There were so many things Dahyun didn't understand about this world and her immortal existence.

She didn't want to think about it.

Sliding her feet across the carpet, Dahyun goes to the living room. There is no one there, and the house is silent. Tzuyu was asleep and Chaeyoung was probably working by now.

Dahyun felt so incredibly lonely. Like she's never felt before. She sighs and drinks some water.

After washing her face and waking up for good, Dahyun changes clothes. Even if she had missed the meeting, she needed to go to work. Cat sitting brought her joy, despite everything. She wanted to focus on her furry babies and forget the world today. She leaves the house.

Dahyun never thought much about the sun on her skin. It was just a daily occurrence, nothing important. Then, she turned into a vampire. But nothing really changed for her. She still liked the sun on her skin.

"I'm so young." Dahyun mutters to herself, feeling warm from the sun.

She reaches the house and Mrs. Kang greets her with a smile. "Hi, dearie. You look a little pale today, is everything ok?"

"Y-yes, yes, I'm fine! Thank you for worrying." Dahyun bows a little.

"If you want, I can call someone else today–"

"No, please! Your babies heal me."

Mrs. Kang giggles. "Well, I'm glad then. I was hoping you could stay, to be honest. Noodle has been restless these days."

Dahyun laughs nervously; she hadn't told her that Noodle had escaped that day. "He's probably... you know. Searching for some ladies."

"Scandalous!"

After saying goodbye, Dahyun walks into the house and starts counting. One, two...

Oh, for god's sake.

"Noodle? Come out boy, Dahyunnie is here!" She looks around, then sighs and starts look for him in his usual hiding places. "Where are you now, you little bastard cat."

Not in Mrs. Kang's room, not in the kitchen, not inside wardrobes or under pillows. Dahyun was starting to get worried. Did he run away without Mrs. Kang noticing?

Dahyun finally finds him near the bathroom window.

A strange girl was luring him out and Dahyun yells. "YOU!"

Noodle looks at Dahyun for a moment, startled, but it's enough for the girl to grab him through the window and run away.

Dahyun clenches her teeth and sprints towards the living room, and out of the house to chase her. She wouldn't lose the Cat-napper from sight again.

She turns into the alley where she last saw the girl and runs faster than ever. Dahyun has been practicing running with her new super speed to finally catch this bitch, and she wouldn't fail now.

Not with Noodle.

"Give me back my CAT!" Dahyun yells, boosting herself by kicking walls.

The girl reaches the main street but Dahyun didn't care. She managed to avoid people, testing her reflexes, focused on the girl.

Unfortunately, she was still too new at this and slipped on her shoelace.

Someone grabs her by the arm, stopping her fall. "Easy."

Dahyun looks up and it's a woman with a grumpy face. "Please let me go, I need to catch her!"

"Who?"

"The Cat-napper!" Dahyun shakes herself free and the woman raises an eyebrow at her strength. "I don't have time for this!"

"Wait." The woman stops her. "This way."

The woman guides her to a shortcut. Dahyun is surprised at how fast she is for a human. Once they reach the top of a small hill, the woman signals her to stop with one hand. Dahyun sees the Cat-napper right below them.

The woman grabs a weird-looking gun from her pocket.

When the woman aims, Dahyun speaks. "Wait–!"

But it's too late. She shoots and it hits the Cat-napper precisely on her thigh, making her fall with a high-pitched scream. The woman then puts the gun back and jumps down. Dahyun can only follow, hoping Noodle was okay.

The Cat-napper keeps screaming in pain at the silver cross lodged in her thigh, releasing Noodle. Dahyun thankfully manages to grab him, and holds him close to her chest. "Oh, thank god you're okay!"

The woman kneels close to the Cat-napper. "Eating cats, are we, Golden?"

The Cat-napper hisses. "What did you do to me?"

The woman grabs her gun again and points it to her chin, tilting her head up. "Stakes don't kill you, but crosses still hurt the shit out of you. Weird, huh?"

Dahyun frowns at the scene, then realizes.

That woman was a hunter.

Dahyun feels fear running through her veins and holds Noodle closer to her chest. She steps back slowly, hoping not to be seen. Maybe she could simply...

"Don't even think about it." The hunter looks over her shoulder at Dahyun. "I'm not done with you, either."

Dahyun freezes. She figures it's better to do as she says if she doesn't want to end up like the Cat-napper. "...Are you going to kill me?"

"Are you going to give me a reason to kill you?" The hunter replies.

"N-no! I just wanted to save my cat." Dahyun is shaking.

"Hm." The hunter looks back at the grunting Cat-napper. "And you're the famous Cat-napper. I knew it was just a filthy vamp killing all those innocent cats."

"I-it's not my fault–"

"Shut up." The hunter sticks her fingers in her wound and the Cat-napper yells.

Dahyun looks away. She couldn't bear the sight or the sound of flesh and blood spilling. Ironic, considering she had to suck on blood bags for a living. The hunter removes the cross from the girl's thigh and the Cat-napper cries in pain.

"There. All clean." The hunter says.

She finally gets up and uses her communicator to call for backup. "Golden on Area 5, southwest. That Cat-napper on the news. Won't be moving, I need someone to collect her. Over."

Another voice answers. " _Roger that. Over_."

The hunter turns to Dahyun. "Now, you."

"Please, I'm just a cat sitter!" Dahyun steps back again. "I was working when I realized one of my cats was missing, then I found him by the window and this girl was stealing him and I just–"

"Jesus, be quiet!" The hunter pinches the bridge of her nose. "Giving me a headache."

"Sorry!" Dahyun closes her mouth, lips tight.

The hunter sighs. "Your name?"

"K-Kim Dahyun."

"Vampire age?"

"Uh... one?"

"That young, huh." She looks at the cat in her arms, then hears the police sirens closing in. "Let's take you home. They'll deal with her."

Dahyun and the hunter walk back in silence. The whole situation was awkward and Dahyun was still scared of saying something wrong and being killed on the spot, but...  
  
Noodle kept looking at the hunter with wide eyes, sniffing. Dahyun smiles. "I think he likes you."

The hunter looks down at the kitty and gives him the ghost of a smile. "I had a cat, once."

"Y-yeah?" Dahyun bites her lip. "What was its name?"

"Noodle."

Dahyun widens her eyes. "No way! That's the name of this cat!"

The hunter blinks, surprised. "Huh. What a coincidence."

"Very much so!" Dahyun looks at Noodle. "Hear that? Someone out there was the first Noodle."

Noodle purrs, then tries to shake himself free. His paw touches the hunter's arm and Dahyun looks at her shyly. "Would you... uh, want to hold him a little?"

The hunter blinks. A flash of memories crosses her mind at the sight of this cat, now that she's looking at him properly. Quick successions of flashbacks hit her; a man screaming, a silver eye, blood, a fire.

The hunter shakes her head. "No, I'm good."

They finally reach the house.

Once Dahyun puts Noodle back on the floor, the other two cats greet him with licks and purrs. The hunter looks at them fondly. She truly loved cats, to this day.

"Thank you for escorting me back." Dahyun says.

"I guess cats are my weak spot." The hunter shrugs.

The hunter grabs a little notebook and a pen. "I'm going to need your ID and address."

Dahyun tilts her head to the side. "Huh?"

"We are legally obliged to keep a record of Goldens in the area." She touches her gun slightly. "I'm sure you understand."

"S-sure. Of course." Dahyun hesitates. If, for some reason, hunters invaded her home and found Tzuyu, would they kill her? Nayeon had mentioned hunters focused on Silvers as their primary target.

She feared for her well-being.

"Well?" The hunter pressures her.

"I... you see..."

Noodle meows.

Dahyun looks down. He rubs his face on her leg, then moves towards the hunter, doing the same with her. Noodle was never affectionate like this.

It was almost like he trusted this woman he's never met. A sign, maybe, that Dahyun could trust her too.

She sighs. "...My ID is..."

After providing the hunter with all the information needed, Dahyun is finally allowed to continue cat sitting.

"Thank you for cooperating." The hunter says. After a pause, she adds. "Feel free to contact me if you have any more vampire trouble." She gives her a business card.

Dahyun remembers Tzuyu's words back then. She said that they were all dead, that a powerful vampire was probably on their tail. Maybe this hunter could be of some help in the future.

Dahyun smiles. "Thank you, uh..." She reads the card. "Miss Jeongyeon."

Jeongyeon nods and leaves.

\--

It's already completely dark out when Nayeon and Mina leave the company. They talked for too long and now Mina had to take Nayeon home and hope for a safe walk back. The later it got, the greater the number of vampires out on the hunt.

Mina sighs. They can't be taking risks.

As they walk, Nayeon looks at Mina sideways. "You're tense."

"It's too late for you to be out, all things considered." Mina says without looking back. "We should've had this conversation at your house."

"But if I died on the way you wouldn't have known."

Mina rolls her eyes. "I would've figured it out eventually." She replies, hands in her pockets as she tries to look calm.

"No, you wouldn't." Nayeon snorts.

"Yes, I would."

"You would've kept watching Tzuyu's streams like she didn't kill your friends' parents." Nayeon pauses. "...Sorry."

"Well, you don't know what I would've—" Mina stops talking, flinching. She slowly turns her head to the side, eyes darting everywhere. "Shit."

"What?" Nayeon frowns.

"Vampires. Four of them." Mina clicks her tongue. "They're following us."

Nayeon then feels the chill. "Shit."

They were really close. Mina needed to think fast. It wasn't likely that they would attack them in the middle of a crowded street, so they were safe as long as there were people around.

Mina grabs Nayeon by the arm. "Come on."

They take a turn and enter a bar. Both girls sit at the counter, blending in. There were other people by their side even though the bar wasn't incredibly crowded. Nayeon sees the four vampires walking in through the mirror above the bartender's head.

"I'm glad vampires reflect in mirrors." Nayeon mutters.

"What can I get you?" The bartender asks them with a welcoming smile.

Mina forces a smile back. "Oh, nothing, we're good—"

"Two bottles of soju, please." Nayeon interrupts.

"Coming right up." The bartender turns around.

Mina deadpans and Nayeon replies. "What? I'm not facing four vamps sober."

As soon as the bottles arrive, Mina glares. "Alcohol is poison to vampires, you know that, right?"

Nayeon stops pouring Mina a cup, thinks for a moment, then continues pouring. "Good, more for me, then."

Mina gives up and looks up at the mirror again. The four vamps were waiting.

Nayeon brings her cup up. "Cheers." She clinks the glass and downs the liquid in one go. Then she takes Mina's cup and does it again. After a loud, satisfying hum, she asks. "Ok. What's the plan?"

"I'm thinking." Mina pours them another cup. "You keep drinking."

She scans the perimeter. The only way out is through the door they came in from. There were no other exits, at least not visible ones. And even if there were, the vamps would notice the moment they were gone and follow them again. Walking to Nayeon's house was out of the question.

Maybe they could go to Mina's house, instead? No, there was a portion of the way that led them directly to a small coven of Silvers. What if they took a detour? Still too risky. All those four vampires needed were a few seconds to kill both of them and leave no traces behind.

Her next best option would be to call hunters to help escort them out, but the only numbers Mina knew were the Yoo sisters'. One was paralyzed, the other hated her.

Great.

Nayeon finishes her second round of soju. "It's been a few minutes. Any ideas?"

Mina bites her nails. "We're trapped." She says, finally. "The moment we're alone, they'll rip my head off and suck you dry. Game over."

Nayeon blinks. Then, she grabs the bottle and drinks from it, cups be damned. After downing nearly the whole thing, she says, words a bit slurred. "Well, then."

They keep in silence for a moment, letting reality sink in. Mina almost laughs — after finding out so many important things about Jihyo, this is how they would die. By the hands of four random, hungry Silvers. Pathetic.

"I have an idea." Nayeon says after a while.

Mina sighs.

"I stay, you run." Nayeon says.

"They'll send someone after me to keep me from getting help." Mina shoots back.

"No, you don't get it. I tell them I'll go with them if they let you live." Nayeon's eyes are unfocused.

Mina glares at her. "Are you insane?"

"I'm tipsy."

"You're not sacrificing yourself." Mina takes the soju from her. "Stop drinking."

"I already told you everything. You can finish this." Nayeon grabs some keys in her pockets. "Here, go to my house, take my journal. Tell Sana everything. You can do this without me."

Mina pushes the keys away. "Stop talking nonsense."

"Mina, get real." Nayeon grunts. "You don't need me to break this curse. You said you could figure it out, so do it. Figure the rest of Jihyo's plans out with Sana and Tzuyu's help. I'll give you her address—"

"Stop!"

The outburst brings attention to themselves. The four vampires stare for a brief moment, then resume their fake conversation.

Mina's voice shakes as she whispers. "Has it ever occurred to you that you're important to me?"

Nayeon stares at her in the eyes, bites her lower lip. "Look, you can find another duo, things like these happen all the tim—"

"Oh my god." Mina interrupts. "I don't give a shit about that. I'm not letting you die."

"There are bigger things at stake here."

"You're my biggest thing at stake here." Mina begs her to understand.

Nayeon avoids her gaze. "Mina..." She sighs. "I care about you, too. Fuck, I care a lot more about you than I'm willing to admit, but this... is not gonna work. We need to focus on killing the Bitch."

"We are," Mina cups Nayeon's cheek. "Both of us. I can't do this without you."

Nayeon looks at Mina's lips for a brief moment. For the tenth time she wonders what they taste like. Blood? Cherry lipstick? Cranberry juice?

Sana's lips had tasted kind of citrusy.

Nayeon blinks, realization flooding her. Sana.

"Son of a bitch!" Nayeon smiles wide.

She grabs her phone, the magical moment broken. Mina frowns. "What are you doing?"

Nayeon dials a number. "Calling for backup."

"Huh?"

It rings three times before Sana picks up. "It's rude to keep people waiting, you know?"

Nayeon's never been so happy to hear her voice. "I have the name of your hunter." She says, an involuntary grin plastered on her face. "But if you want it, you gotta come and take it."

There's silence, then Sana speaks again. "When did you become such a tease?"

"No, but really, I need your help."

Mina rolls her eyes.

"Oh? What did you get yourself into this time?" Sana sounds amused.

Nayeon places a hand over her mouth and speaks lowly. "I'm trapped in a bar with four Silvers waiting for me to leave." There's no answer and Nayeon frowns. "Hello?"

"Send me your location." Sana says.

Nayeon does and waits. Mina just stares at her.

"What?" Nayeon asks.

Mina huffs and crosses her arms. "Nothing."

"Are you... angry I called her?"

"No. Why should I be angry? She's a Silver and strong. Makes sense. I guess."

Nayeon raises an eyebrow. "...Are you jealous?"

"What?!" Mina sounds so scandalized by this assumption that Nayeon can't stop a smile. She looked so cute. "I'm not jealous of Sana! Really, of ALL people—"

"Okay, okay! Just asking." Nayeon tries to hide her amusement. Mina grunts. Nayeon leans a bit closer, arms touching.

It really shocks them when Sana shows up at the bar literally three minutes later.

"Am I interrupting something?" She whispers close to their ears and Mina jumps so far away from her that she trips and falls.

"When did you—?"

"I'm stealthy, Minari. Get with the program."

Nayeon walks over and helps Mina up. "That was fast."

"I can't possibly keep my princess waiting." Sana winks. Mina makes a vomiting sound.

Nayeon rolls her eyes. "Focus, you two." She nods at the four vampires at the table. "Those four. Think you can take them?"

Sana smirks. "Not a problem. Shall we?" She offers her an arm and Mina pushes it away.

"We need to pay, first." Mina stares and Sana can tell she's fuming.

"Right, right." Sana rolls her eyes. "Always so uptight."

"I'M NOT—"

"I paid, let's go." Nayeon breaks them apart.

The three of them walk past the vampires and leave the bar. It doesn't take long for the four to get up and follow them outside.

Sana and Mina decide to keep Nayeon in between them as they walk, for better protection.

"Should the three of us hold hands?" Sana asks with a grin.

"That would be awkward if you were in the middle, huh?" Mina bites and Nayeon has to hold back a laugh.

Sana's eyebrow twitches, but she doesn't let herself be affected. "Thankfully I'm on the right side!" She holds Nayeon's hand.

Mina grunts and holds the other hand.

"I'm surrounded by teenage boys." Nayeon rolls her eyes but doesn't try to break free from their hold. She does feel safer like this.

As soon as they turn at an empty street, she feels both their grips tightening at the same time. It would be cute if they weren't in danger.

The chill down Nayeon's spine increases and Sana lets her go, turning around to face the four women following them. "Show time, ladies."

Mina does the same. "Stay back, Nayeon."

Nayeon does, but still sticks close enough.

Mina and Sana's eyes shine. Gold and Silver.

"That's funny. A Goldie and a Silver protecting a virgin? What is she, your blood bag?" The first woman speaks, eyes also shining.

"Ew, Jennie, that's gross." Another chuckles.

"You've kept blood bags before, Jisoo." Another says.

"Not me. Lisa, did."

"Whatever."

"I'll give you one chance to turn around and leave us alone." Mina says, trying her best to fake confidence. The Silvers didn't give a shit about a Goldie like her.

"I won't." Sana says in a low voice.

"What was that?" Jennie asks.

Sana smirks and pounces faster than anything.

The first blow happens so fast that Nayeon can't even see it. All she hears is a spurt as Jennie's head flies, falling on the concrete, Sana's arm covered in the blood from what's left of her neck.  
  
Mina grunts. "Goddammit, Sana."

Rosé, Lisa and Jisoo yell and attack.

Sana jumps away, ducking to avoid Lisa's teeth and grabbing her by the ankle. She twists and throws her hard against Jisoo, sending both flying.

Rosé goes to Mina, sharp nails aiming straight for her neck. Mina tilts her head to the side and hits her ribs with an elbow.

Rosé gets on her feet soon after that, growling. "You _little_ —!"

Mina widens her eyes and jumps back as Sana's nails pierce Rosé's torso. The vampire gargles in her own fluids for a while, then Sana brings her arm up, slicing her in half.

The blood gets on Mina. "Ugh."

Sana licks the blood from her fingers, then shivers. "Ew. Still as disgusting as I remember."

Mina winces. "I don't want to know the context." Then she frowns, alert. "Where are the other two?"

Sana blinks and turns around. Then, from above, Jisoo jumps on her shoulder. She sticks her nails into Sana's shoulder and pulls up, ripping flesh. Sana yells at the pain and tries to grab her by the hair.

Before Mina can help, she hears Nayeon screaming. Her heart nearly drops when she turns around and sees Lisa choking her on the ground.

"I'll suck you _dry_ , you worthless sack of _flesh_." Lisa's eyes shine intensely as she shows her fangs.

Mina screams and tackles her away from Nayeon, who rolls to the side coughing, trying to breathe. Lisa grabs Mina and throws her on the concrete, hard. "Don't interrupt, _Goldie_."

She presses Mina down with her powerful legs, hands wrapping around her neck. Mina can't move. She tries, she tries so hard.

But she's just a Goldie.

This is it.

This is how Mina dies.

 _Didn't even get to tell her I loved her._ Mina thinks before closing her eyes.

Then, something hits Lisa.

It's Sana, with Jisoo still attached to her shoulder.

"Get," Sana grabs Jisoo's shirt, throwing her over her shoulder. "The fuck," Jisoo hits Lisa's body, both pressed on the ground. "Away," Sana brings her arm back. "From her." She pierces both.

Mina opens her eyes to see.

Sana has her arm deep into the two vampires' chests. Her face is bloody, her fangs are shining against the moonlight, and she pulls up, slicing through two bodies at once with one arm. Their insides drop lifelessly on the ground, like they’re not even real, and Sana grunts, breathing out with her mouth opened.

And it hits Mina, for the first time.

Sana is terrifying.

Mina is so dizzy. She had hit her head on the concrete, her neck and eye swollen. She tries to get up, but falls.

Then, she hears coughing. Nayeon.

Mina turns around to look and Nayeon is okay. She was just catching her breath, still.

She was okay. Nayeon was okay.

"Mina...?" Nayeon says after regaining her breath. "Oh, no, no, Mina. Are you ok?" She gets up and runs, kneeling beside Mina.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Mina sits up, groggily. "Just... dizzy."

Nayeon touches her cheek and checks her swollen eye.

Mina turns her face. "Sana..."

Nayeon follows her gaze and what she sees scares her.

Sana is heaving, her voice raspy as she stares at the two vampires she just murdered. Their faces unrecognizable; just mangled flesh. Slowly, Sana removes her bloody arm from them and falls back, looking at the moon.

Nayeon exchanges gazes with Mina for a second. Mina just nods. Then, Nayeon gets up and walks towards Sana.

She sits next to the vampire, trying to avoid looking at the bodies behind them. "You saved Mina."

Sana keeps looking at the moon. "It's what I do." She lifts her one arm, reaching for the moon. Like she could touch it. "Say, Nay..."

"Yes?"

"When you write about me in your journal," A small tear runs down the corner of Sana's eye as she speaks. "Can you make me a little less monstrous?"

Nayeon's eyes blur. "Yeah. Of course."

Sana chuckles slightly and closes her eyes. "Thank you."

Nayeon shakes her head, lets the tears fall. She looks back at Mina, who is crawling towards them slowly. When she reaches them, Mina smiles. Nayeon grins back. Then she wraps one arm around Mina, and another around Sana.

The three stay in silence like that, too many feelings drowning their words out. Mina nuzzles Nayeon's neck and Nayeon presses a kiss to her temple.

Sana snorts suddenly, breaking in a giggling fit. Nayeon frowns. "What?"

"I just realized I don't have arms enough for a group hug."

\--

If anyone saw them, it looked like Sana and Nayeon were two friends carrying another drunk friend home. Mina's legs wobble as she walks, arms around both their shoulders. Finally, they reach Nayeon's house.

Sure, they're mostly covered in blood, but nothing a bath won't solve.

Nayeon lets her go to take her keys. Her hands are still shaking so she misses the hole a few times. Once the door finally opens, Nayeon walks in. "I invite you in, yadda, yadda, you know the drill."

"We don't need an invite every time." Sana says.

"You need a shower."

Sana drops Mina on the nearest couch and Nayeon flinches. "Sana, no... she's gonna stain my couch..."

Mina tries to get up. "Sorry."

Nayeon pushes her back down. "No, it's already ruined. You stay." Then, she turns to Sana. "You. Shower. Upstairs."

"Yes, ma'am." Sana obeys.

Nayeon goes to the kitchen, dragging her feet across the floor. Her legs feel so heavy. She takes a cup of water, fills it to the brim, then drinks. Then, she fills another one and brings it to Mina.

Mina takes it. "Thanks, but... water doesn't really help my case."

"Oh." Nayeon blinks slowly. She's so tired. "Then, what does?"

Mina looks down, fingers tapping on the glass. "Never mind. Water is fine."

It hits Nayeon like a rock thrown at a web. "Blood."

Mina shakes her head. "It's fine, really. Water is good."

Nayeon stares at her. Despite the situation, the dim lights of her living room create a cozy environment. It's orange and warm. Nayeon shifts her gaze towards Mina's swollen eye. "Will it heal?"

Mina nods. "Yeah, we heal fast."

"After drinking blood."

"..."

Without another word, Nayeon unzips her jacket, throwing it on the floor. Mina widens her eyes and winces at the pain. "Stop."

"Do it." Nayeon is wearing a white sleeveless shirt underneath. It shows lots of skin. "You can't show up at the company like this tomorrow."

Mina wants to deny it, tell her to stop being stupid for once in her life, but the sight of pale skin right in front of her while she's this weak and disoriented is too much.

She can't refuse this.

Mina dips her head, nose brushing against her neck as Nayeon tilts her jaw. The bite doesn't hurt at first, it's mostly a pinch. Mina was very careful. Nayeon winces when she starts sucking, however. She feels the blood leaving her veins. It's a bit cold.

Then, it gets good. Addictive.

Mina wasn't lying about vampire bites. Nayeon lets out a moan.

She pretends nothing happened and keeps waiting as Mina feeds. It's taking a while. Nayeon's grip on the couch tightens with every suck. She has to force her voice down. It feels too good. No wonder Mina erased her memory back then.

"Fuck." Nayeon breathes out.

Mina finally pulls back a little. She brushes her tongue on the bite to stop the bleeding. Nayeon crosses her legs, biting her lower lip. She should not be feeling what she's feeling right now. She wants to scream. "Done?"

Mina takes a deep breath, satisfied. "Done."

Nayeon makes the mistake of turning her face to look at her. They're so close. Mina hadn't pulled back enough. Her eyes are shining from feeding. Pools of gold.

Nayeon wants to kiss her. Wants to grab a fistful of her hair and crash their lips together. "Fuck, Mina."

"What?" Mina asks in a low voice. Was she thinking the same thing? Maybe Nayeon should just go for it. Blood on her lips, and all. Who the fuck cared at this point.

Nayeon leans forward, hoping that Mina would pull back. Mina doesn't. Their noses brush.

"Done!" Sana yells.

Nayeon and Mina break up so fast that Sana frowns when she goes downstairs and sees them on opposite sides of the couch. "Did you have a couple fight?"

"We're not a coup—" Nayeon then turns to Sana and blushes, covering her eyes. "WHY ARE YOU NAKED??"

"I took a shower?"

"Put on some CLOTHES!" Nayeon gets up, storming past Sana and going upstairs. "I'm taking a shower next, you're driving me CRAZY!"

Sana watches her until she slams the bathroom door, then turns to Mina, frowning. "What was that about?"

"I fucking hate you." Mina groans.

"That's not a nice way to talk to someone who saved your life." Sana moves to the couch next to Mina, drying her wet hair with the towel around her shoulders. "More than once, in fact."

"Whatever." Mina is too exhausted for this.

Sana then smells it and smirks. "Oh, hold on." She sees the rest of blood on Mina's lower lip and laughs. "Did you just feed off of her? Really? While I was taking a bath upstairs?"

"She offered!" Mina nearly blushes. "I have to heal from this wound and she knew I needed blood."

"That's why she was so hot and bothered."

"She wasn't—" Mina stops. "She was?"

"Oh my god." Sana rolls her eyes. "For someone who falls in love so easily you're really clueless, Minari."

"I don't want to hear that from you." Mina grunts, crossing her arms. Still, she feels butterflies in her stomach over it.

"Do you think I could drink from her too if I showed her my wound?" Sana teases.

"Absolutely not." Mina shows her fangs out of instinct. "Stay away from her blood." Then she pauses and notices Sana's shoulder. It looked really bad. "...Does it hurt?"

"Yeah." She shrugs.

"...Sorry." Mina says.

Sana chuckles. "For what?"

"For being useless in combat." She feels really guilty. "And thanks. For saving me."

"Meh, it's fine." Sana then smirks at her. "But if you really want to thank me..."

Mina raises and eyebrow, not liking where this was going.

Before she can react, Sana grabs her by the back of her neck and pulls her in, lips crashing against hers.

Mina completely freezes.

She feels Sana's tongue tracing the blood on her lips, drinking what was left of Nayeon's. And Mina hates herself for not pushing her away. After all that time at the coven trying to win Sana's affection, trying to be as important to her as any other vampire she flirted with, this is how Mina finally gets what she wanted.

Sana doesn't kiss her because she likes her. She kisses her because of Nayeon.

It hurts a bit.

Sana pulls back gently. The look in her eyes isn't at all what Mina expected even though she just got her heart broken by her again.

"You've been dreaming about this moment, haven't you?" Sana mutters.

That hurts Mina's pride. She pulls back and slaps Sana's face, strongly.

Sana breathes out a surprised laugh. "Ouch."

"You don't get to do this to me. Not now." Mina's hand trembles with anger.

Sana just smiles without looking at her. "Good. You finally did it."

"Huh?"

"You finally let your anger out on me." Sana rubs her face. "Fucking finally."

Mina frowns, holding herself back from hitting her again. "What are you talking about?"

"All that time in the coven you would just accept all the shitty things I did to you. Over and over." Sana lifts her gaze. "I was waiting for the moment you would finally say 'enough'."

Mina is speechless.

"I taught you many things, Mina. How to hunt, how to fight, how to survive if you ever got caught. But I couldn't teach you how to take a fucking stand. You're too fucking nice." Sana continues. "You keep letting life beat you down. That's why you're so fucking miserable."

"Shut _up_! I tried to help you break the curse because even though I knew you would never love me back, I still wanted your happiness!" Mina gets up, fists clenched. "You don't get to dismiss my efforts like that just because you hate yourself!"

"You _can’t_ break the curse, Mina!"

"You're right, I CAN'T! And neither can you! And neither can Nayeon or ANYONE! Because Jihyo is a fucking half golden and too fucking POWERFUL for ANY of us!" Mina blurts out.

Sana stops. "...What?"

Nayeon freezes downstairs. "...So that's how we're doing this. Great."

Sana gets up too, slowly turning to Nayeon. "Ji— She is _what_?"

Nayeon sighs. "Can I just eat, before we—"

"Nayeon. What did you do?" Sana sounds serious and Nayeon feels the strength of her gaze root her on the spot.

"Okay. At least... put on some clothes. Please."

After Sana puts her poncho back on and Nayeon cooks some ramen, the three sit at the kitchen table to talk.

"Alright, the cat is out of the bag. Jihyo isn't a Silver. Under her eyepatch is a golden eye." Nayeon says with a mouthful.

"Who told you that?" Sana asks.

"Tzuyu."

Sana leans forward. "How do you know Tzuyu?"

"Through a series of weird and convoluted coincidences. She’s—" Nayeon stops. Maybe it wasn't wise to tell Sana where Tzuyu was living. "She's fine. And she told me stuff."

"What. Stuff."

"Stuff Jihyo has been hiding from you."

Sana leans back again. "Spill it."

"First, let me ask you something." Nayeon eats more ramen. "When you first met Jihyo, all those years ago, was she already wearing her eyepatch?"

"...Yeah. I've never seen her without it. We just assumed she'd lost an eye."

Nayeon hums, deep in thought. Mina knows she's adding more pieces to this puzzle and lets her be.

Mina turns to Sana. "Everyone thinks Goldens are a recent thing. The oldest ones appeared in the 70’s. Is that true?"

Sana nods. "Yes. At least I've never seen one before then."

"Where did the first Golden appear?" Nayeon asks.

"I don't fucking know, they just started popping up one day and everyone thought it was weird." Sana touches her shoulder.

"Okay, new question, then. Was Jihyo with you when you first saw one?"

"...No? Why?"

Mina turns to Nayeon. "The Bitch travels a lot. She's barely here."

Sana raises an eyebrow. "The Bitch?"

"Oh, yeah, codenames. We should probably use that." Nayeon nods. "Wait, but her base is here, right?"

"Her coven is in Korea, but she travels abroad a lot." Sana answers.

"For what?" Nayeon asks.

"Business. She's not only powerful, she's rich. But even when we're with her she disappears sometimes. Says she needs time alone." Sana scoffs. "I honestly don't care."

"Well, you should care. Now that you know she's a Golden." Nayeon retorts.

"Okay, pause. Why should I believe this?" Sana asks, bothered. "You're telling me Tzuyu, the retainer Jihyo banished years ago, suddenly showed up to reveal the biggest secret in the world to you?"

Nayeon frowns. "What? The Bitch didn't banish her. Tzuyu left on her own."

"No, Jih-" Sana starts.

"The Bitch."

"Nayeon, if she wanted to kill you for saying her name, she would've busted through your wall already." Sana rolls her eyes. "It's too late for codenames."

Nayeon pouts. "But I liked calling her The Bitch..."

"Whatever! I'm saying that Jihyo told us she banished Tzuyu after a hunter took her legs." Sana finishes.

"And Tzuyu told me that she ripped her own legs off after Jihyo told her about her secret of being half-Golden!" Nayeon retorts.

"Well, clearly someone is lying, then." Mina says.

"Why would she lie to her own retainers?" Sana is getting stressed.

"Fine, then what about the fire? Jihyo never told you about that, did she?" Nayeon raises her voice.

"What fire??"

"The fire Tzuyu caused after murdering the parents of two children!"

"Well she—" Sana stutters. "Jihyo sends us in many missions, we don't know all of them!"

"You don't know because Jihyo told Tzuyu to keep it a secret from you!" Nayeon says. "And I think you would like to know that one of these children is the hunter that took your arm!"

Mina watches as the two yell at each other. She pushes the ramen back to Nayeon, who slurps more. "Why do you think she wants to know the name of your hunter, huh? She wants to make sure the kids grew up to become murder machines!"

"Why?" Sana doesn't get it.

"To kill her!"

Mina puts a hand on Nayeon's shoulder. "You're acting like you did with me when you first started telling me these things."

Nayeon stops and slumps back on her chair. She feels weird. Like the words out of her mouth aren't her own.

"...How do I know that?" Nayeon mutters.

Mina rubs her back. "We don't know anything, it's all a theory—"

"No, you don't get it. I—" Nayeon feels a headache. "I know that. I know what she's doing."

Sana and Mina exchange gazes. "Nayeon?"

"...I've been through this before." Nayeon feels dizzy suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Mina asks.

Nayeon looks at Sana. She's going to faint. But she needs to tell her something first. "Tell Jihyo that the h-hunter is called Seungyeon. She can't hunt anymore, but her sister can. Jeongyeon." She reaches for Sana. "A-and ask her about the golden eye."

Before she can say anything else, Nayeon blacks out, falling face-first on the table. Mina grabs her by the shoulders. "Nayeon! Hey, what's wrong?"

Sana frowns, trying to understand what just happened. Clearly something huge was linked to Jihyo and this human. With a sigh, she gets up. "Take care of her. Tell her I'll do what she asked."

Mina just nods, confused and worried. Whatever was happening, Nayeon needed her there. Clearly this thing went a lot beyond any of them were aware of.

Before leaving, Sana turns to Mina. "I think you were wrong, Mina. We can't break the curse. But maybe Nayeon can."

With these heavy words, she leaves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on twitter @niigoki_


	12. Chapter 12

More ripples.

She can feel them filling her entire soul, echoing through time eternal. It keeps repeating. Every single time it fails, it just adds more ripples to the cycle.

It's agonizing.

The pain shoots through her eye. She grunts, pulling. The chains hold her back.

Jihyo swallows dry as the pulsating pain makes her want to rip her eye off. She can't, though.

The eyepatch is on the floor; her golden eye, breathing. She closes her eyes. It just gets worse. She opens them again. One more ripple. Jihyo pulls again. The chains nearly break.

"Come on." Jihyo mutters under her breath. The conversation has been going for a long time, apparently. She hears her name being spoken softly, like a ghost floating above her head. Every time it happens, it hurts more.

She needs it to work this time around. One last chance.

The last ripple causes Jihyo to snap, her golden eye glowing intensely. She pulls again with a loud howl. The chains break this time. Jihyo flies on the stone wall, nails digging the surface. She scratches the hard stone like a feral beast for a long time. Then, she stops.

The pain stops just as quickly and Jihyo falls to her knees, huffing and grunting. Slowly, her body starts to go back to normal. Her fangs retract a little and she drops her tense shoulders. Her nails bleed.

She looks at the broken chains around her wrists. "Useless."

Jihyo puts her eyepatch back on. She cleans the blood on the sink, combs her hair, adjusts the messy suit, makes a serious face. Once she's satisfied, she finally opens the door and leaves the room. She goes up the fifty sets of stairs like nothing happened.

One vampire stops what he's doing and bows when he sees her. Jihyo doesn't bat an eye at him.

She gets to her office and Momo is waiting at the door. "Welcome back."

"Is Sana back?" Jihyo walks in and sits on her chair.

Momo brings her blood in a cup of tea. "Not yet."

Jihyo sips the blood and hums. Then she turns to her computer and checks her business e-mails. Momo just stays by her side.

She notices that Jihyo's wrists are red. So, something was going on again. Momo knows better than to ask, so she stays quiet as they wait for Sana to return.

A few hours later, there is a knock on the door.

"Come in." Jihyo says, moving away from the computer and turning the chair towards her guest.

Sana walks in smelling like soap. Momo raises an eyebrow. There is something different about her bondmate.

"Seungyeon." Sana says. "The hunter who took my arm is called Seungyeon. She's paralyzed in the hospital and can't hunt anymore."

She sounds serious and Momo keeps quiet as she watches. Jihyo doesn't react all that much. "I see. Good jo—"

"She has a sister called Jeongyeon." Sana interrupts.

It's not the first time Sana interrupts Jihyo as she speaks, but it is something everyone tried to avoid if possible. Momo clenches her jaw, feeling the tension in the air.

Jihyo's eye pierces Sana and the two glare at each other for too long.

"You're dismissed." Jihyo says.

Sana doesn't move, however, and Momo starts to panic slightly. What was she doing?

Jihyo waits for her retainer to say something else. Sana stares at her eyepatch. Then, at Jihyo's red wrists. And right then, she believes Nayeon. Jihyo was hiding something huge from them.

Sana finally smiles and bows deeply. "Anything else you want me to find out?"

Jihyo turns her chair back to her computer. "No. As I said, you are dismissed." She nods in Momo's direction. "You too."

Momo is surprised at this, but simply bows and leaves the office with Sana.

The two walk in silence along the narrow corridors of the coven, greeting the vampires in the way.

Once they reach a safe distance from Jihyo's office, Momo grabs Sana's hand and pulls her to an empty room. She closes the door then turns to her. "What was that all about??"

Sana moves to the couch and sits, hand trembling. She looks so tired. "Jihyo disappeared tonight again, didn't she? And came back with her wrists like that."

Momo sits next to her. "Yeah, but it's not like this is new."

"Momo..." Sana sighs. "I have to tell you something."

\--

Nayeon grunts and struggles to open her eyes. It's not as bright as she thought it would be. Her whole body aches. She sighs, buries her face in her pillow for a second, then turns around.

She comes face to face with a sleeping Mina and nearly falls out of bed.

After the initial shock, she allows herself to look at Mina's face for a moment. She looked so peaceful. Like a normal girl with normal dreams. Her eye wasn't swollen anymore, and she looked as beautiful as ever.

Nayeon forgets the world for a moment and gets lost in Myoui Mina.

Mina is so still and relaxed that Nayeon feels her chest tightening. For a brief second, she daydreams about waking up to this sight every day. How wonderful it would be.

The fragile moment is broken as soon as memories from yesterday come flooding back. Nayeon remembers fainting.

Mina probably carried her to bed after that. She could've gone home and left Nayeon by herself but decided to keep her company. Mina really was too good of a person.

Nayeon pokes Mina's nose gently. "Wakey wakey."

Mina grunts cutely and Nayeon wants to squish her.

Mina finally opens her eyes and sees Nayeon close to her face. She smiles lazily. "I dreamed about this, once."

"What?" Nayeon asks in a low voice.

"Waking up next to you."

Nayeon lets out a breathy chuckle. "You're gonna kill me, Myoui Mina."

Mina nudges her with her nose. "What time is it?" She asks.

"Uhm." Nayeon realizes that they still have to work. She turns around and checks her clock. "We're still on time."

Mina closes her eyes again. "Good."

Nayeon looks at her and laughs lowly. "Noooo, don't sleep again."

Mina giggles. "Five more minutes."

Nayeon decides to isolate this moment from the rest of the world and keeps talking like vampires never existed. "We're filming our MV tomorrow."

"We are."

"Are you excited?"

Mina grins. "I've filmed MVs before... I should be asking you that."

"Show off."

"Dork."

"I'm excited." Nayeon reaches out to run her fingers through Mina's hair. Mina nearly purrs.

"Yeah? What are you most excited for?"

"Hmm... the outfits. And makeup. I want to be pretty."

"You're always pretty." Mina scoots closer.

"Shut up." Nayeon chuckles.

"I'm excited to see the choreography on video." Mina teases and Nayeon blushes.

"Don't remind me..."

"Hope you learned a thing or two on how to bite a neck." The moment Mina says that she regrets it. "Sorry. That was a shitty joke."

"Nah. I think I've got it." Nayeon smiles.

The silence is both relaxing and heavy, with Mina breaking the moment with vampire talk again. She finally opens her eyes and sees Nayeon staring at her.

Mina grabs her hand, removing it from her hair, and places a kiss on top of it. "We should get up."

Nayeon nods, face red.

The two finally sit up, rubbing their eyes. Nayeon leaves for the bathroom to wash her face Once she's done, Mina does the same. Then, they go to the kitchen for a healthy breakfast.

Mina drinks orange juice. Nayeon thanks coffee for existing and saving her mornings.

Mina taps her cup with her fingers. "How are you feeling?"

Nayeon thinks about it. "I'm... fine, actually. My body hurts but my mind is ok."

"Do you remember fainting yesterday?"

"Yeah." Nayeon bites her lower lip. "Thanks for staying, by the way."

Mina grins and drinks.

"Did Sana leave after that?" Nayeon asks.

"Yeah. She said she would do what you asked." Mina looks down. "She will tell the Bitch about Seungyeon and Jeongyeon. And ask her about the golden eye, I guess."

"...I see.” Nayeon barely remembers asking that of her. “And... are you ok with that?" She knows how much Mina cares about the sisters.

"Of course not." Mina says, then sighs. "I'm so scared that the Bitch will kill two of my most cherished friends, but..." She frowns. "I trust you...? It's so weird."

"It's weird trusting me?" Nayeon doesn't understand.

"No, that's not it. It's like... I can't really explain it." Mina feels that something is off. "I feel like if we follow you, things will be okay. I feel like you know what you're doing."

"Huh, that's a first."

"Don't you feel that?" Mina asks, looking at Nayeon. "Before you fainted yesterday you said that you've been through this before. That you know what the Bitch is doing."

Nayeon has vague memories about this. "I did?"

"You don't remember?"

"Maybe?" Her head starts to hurt. "I don't know what I said, I just..." Nayeon groans. "All I know is that we should all probably meet soon."

"We all?"

"Yeah. You and I, Sana, Tzuyu, Chaeyoung and Dahyun. Jeongyeon." Nayeon speaks carefully. "Hell, even Momo. We all have a reason to kill the Bitch, don't we?"

"So, what, you think two Goldens, an armless Silver and her bondmate, a Silver without legs, one hunter, a doctor, and an insane girl who keeps pushing us to do crazy things can kill the most powerful vampire in the world?" Mina asks.

Nayeon finishes her coffee. "Yeah."

Mina just keeps staring as Nayeon gets up and washes the dishes while still wearing her pajamas. Once she's done, Nayeon turns to her with a smirk. "All of that while trying to debut. Up to the challenge, partner?"

Mina shakes her head with an incredulous laugh. "Why not?"

\--

"Hey, you." A doctor nudges Chaeyoung's shoulder as she sits next to her. "You've been looking really down these past few days."

"Hey, Yeri." Chaeyoung forces a soft smile. "Sorry, just... problems at home."

"Your roommate?"

"Yeah." She sighs. "It's been kind of hard."

"Sorry to hear that." Yeri rubs Chaeyoung's arm gently. "If you need some time away from home you know you can crash at my place, right?"

"Thanks, but I think I need more time inside my home than out of it." Chaeyoung plays with her food for a bit. "I'm just worried."

"You're always worried." Yeri smiles. "That's what makes you such a good doc. But it's also dangerous on a job like ours."

Chaeyoung chuckles a little. "You don't have to tell me."

"You can't keep taking everyone's pain for yourself, Chaeng. It'll kill you one day."

Chaeyoung wants to say that it's impossible for her. She became a doctor to save lives, and even though she knew she wouldn't be able to succeed all the time, she still wanted to try.

Maybe Yeri was right. Her empathy was much too big for someone as small as her. "I guess."

"Tell you what, take a day off. I'll fill in for you—"

"Not a chance." Chaeyoung almost laughs. "I'm needed here. My roommate will be fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." She takes a bite of her food. "It's fine." She couldn't be in two places at once, so she had to compromise.

The day goes by and Chaeyoung talks to her patients. The old man was recovering from his pneumonia; the little girl was managing to walk again after the car accident; the pregnant woman smiled when she saw her baby for the first time. Things like these calmed Chaeyoung down.

It's finally evening when Chaeyoung decides to leave for the day. She walks by the blood bank and averts her gaze, trying not to think about it.

It hurt too much.

She wanted to talk to Tzuyu properly tonight. Tzuyu had been locked up in her room since her breakdown. The only indication that Tzuyu was even still home were the blood bags Chaeyoung left for her at her door. They would disappear every night, which meant Tzuyu had been at least eating.

No more of that. Chaeyoung would talk to Tzuyu tonight and sort this whole mess out.

\--

"I'm home." Chaeyoung announces, opening the door.

When no one replies, she frowns. Where was Dahyun? Chaeyoung goes to the kitchen and checks the fridge, where she would leave her notes in case she went out. There was one. _'off to buy more catnip, brb -D'_ Chaeyoung grins.

She puts her stuff on the table and feels her heart speeding up. It was only her and Tzuyu home. She should've rehearsed a speech or something.

Chaeyoung goes to her room and knocks. "Tzu? It's me. Dahyun is out and I just... wanted to chat for a bit. Can I come in?"

No one replies as expected, and Chaeyoung sighs, leaning her forehead on the door. "I know you're worried about many things. I can't even fathom the size of your pain. But you have us, now." She bites her lower lip. "I promise you I'm never leaving you. Ever."

More silence. Chaeyoung stops and places her ear on the door, trying to listen. It's quiet inside. Too quiet. "Tzuyu?" A sense of dread washes over her. "I'm coming in."

Chaeyoung opens the door and freezes.

There's no one in the room. Only a note on the bed.

"Oh, no. No!" Chaeyoung runs towards the bed, grabbing the note _. 'You two were the family I had been promised all those years ago. I was happy for a while. But you're not safe with me. Live a good life, both of you. And I'm sorry. Don't look for me.'_

Chaeyoung's heart stops.

She drops the note and runs out of the room. She stops. Chaeyoung is panicking. She needs to calm down before doing anything. She is a doctor, she is used to this kind of pressure.

Chaeyoung closes her eyes for a moment and breathes in, deeply. "Calm down." She exhales.

Her brain starts working again, slowly. Tzuyu had been home since yesterday, so that meant the note was recent. So she left today. Probably not long ago.

Chaeyoung goes to the kitchen and checks the fridge. All the blood bags were gone. "Ok. Ok, I can find her. She's alive."

Tzuyu's legs weren't working properly, so she couldn't have gone far. Chaeyoung leaves the house and goes downstairs, outside of the apartment.

She stops on the street. "Where do I go? Fuck."

She is panicking again. She decides to run left. Maybe she could still find her.

Chaeyoung checks the entire block. She breathes heavily as she runs, left and right, checking alleys and crowded places, walking into restaurants, everywhere. Her heart was nearly bursting off her chest.

The adrenaline was too much and she felt her legs wobbling. "Shit."

Chaeyoung stops. This wasn't going to work. She needed help. She needed Dahyun, anyone. She wasn't thinking properly.

"Calm down!" Chaeyoung grunts to herself. Maybe she could call someone. She checks her pockets, but she forgot her phone home. "Fucking hell." She runs again.

Back home, Chaeyoung searches for her phone. She has no idea where she put it. Finally, she finds it on the kitchen table.

"Ok. Who am I calling? Calm down." Chaeyoung's hands tremble. She could call Dahyun. Her eyes catch something stuck to the fridge. A business card.

Chaeyoung grabs it. It read _'Special officer Yoo Jeongyeon'_ and a phone number. She had no idea where this card had come from, but it was everything she needed right now. A special officer would certainly be able to help.

Chaeyoung dials the number and waits.

A voice picks up on the other side. "Special officer Yoo Jeongyeon."

"H-hello! My name is Son Chaeyoung. My roommate disappeared tonight. She ran away from home, but it was recent. I think she might be close, but I checked the whole block and couldn't find her. Please, help me."

"Calm down, ma'am. Can you give me your address?"

Chaeyoung does, then speaks again. "She has prosthetic legs, but they're faulty. That should be helpful. She's really tall. Her name is Tzuyu."

"Got it." Jeongyeon knew this address. It was where that cat sitter Golden lived. "I'll send a team to your area. Stay home, she might come back."

"Thank you so much." Chaeyoung feels her knees weakening. "I w-will."

Jeongyeon hangs up and hums to herself. That was too much of a coincidence.

She gets up and decides to go as well.

\--

Dahyun frowns when she sees that the door to the apartment is open when she comes back. She pokes her head inside. "Hello?"

"Dahyun!" Chaeyoung leaves the couch and runs to her, hugging her tight. She finally allows herself to cry.

"What happened?" Dahyun hugs her back.

"Tzuyu is gone." Chaeyoung sobs, trying to breathe properly.

"What??" Dahyun hugs her tighter. "What do you mean gone?"

"She wasn't in her room when I came back. There was j-just a note." Chaeyoung pulls back. "She ran away. Said we weren't safe with her."

"That's ridiculous!" Dahyun doesn't know what to think. "We have to look for her!"

"Don't worry, I already called someone." Chaeyoung rubs eyes. "Help is coming. She said we should wait here in case Tzuyu comes back."

"Who did you call?"

Chaeyoung shows her the business card.

Dahyun feels her stomach churning. "You called her?!"

"Yes? I saw this on the fridge. Who is this woman, anyway?"

"Chaeng, that's a hunter!" Dahyun puts her hands on her head, speechless. "If she finds Tzuyu she'll kill her!"

Chaeyoung is suddenly not relieved anymore. "What?! How was I supposed to know??"

"Call her back and tell her we found Tzuyu. We can't let her get near her." Dahyun grabs her by the shoulders.

Chaeyoung swallows dry but does as she's told. Her face gets pale. "She's not picking up."

"Oh, goddammit. Try again!" Dahyun says, biting her nails.

Chaeyoung tries. Again, and again. Countless times. Jeongyeon doesn't pick up.

"Fucking shit— we have to stop them somehow!" Dahyun trembles.

"How? She said she'd be sending a team. I don't know what hunters look like!"

"Ugh, this is a mess!" Dahyun punches the wall in frustration, making a hole.

Chaeyoung doesn't even flinch. "This is all my fault..." She mutters to herself, falling to her knees. "I killed her."

Dahyun turns to her. "No, stop. Don't even start."

"It's my fault."

Dahyun kneels next to her and grabs her by the shoulders. "Hey, doc! Snap out of it. We can find her. I can find her. I'm super fast. She left today, right?"

"Don't be stupid. If hunters find you and Tzuyu they'll kill you both." Chaeyoung feels numb. "That's what Nayeon said."

Then, at the same time, both girls lift their heads and speak in unison. "Nayeon."

Dahyun looks at her right in the eyes. "Call her."

Chaeyoung is already dialing the number before she can finish speaking. It rings twice, then she picks up.

"Hello?"

"Nayeon, we need help."

\--

Nayeon stretches her aching muscles after dance practice. She had to pretend her body wasn't hurting for the whole day. If the coach asked, she dismissed it as back pains from sleeping in a wrong position.

Mina looked so perfect the whole time that Nayeon wanted to pinch her.

"Good job today, girls." The dance coach praises them. "You're ready for the MV tomorrow."

"Thank you, sir!" The two bow, breathlessly. Well, at least Nayeon is actually breathless. Mina just pretends.

Once he's out of the room, they exchange gazes and grin. "Tomorrow, huh."

They change clothes while chatting. "I really hope tomorrow is a normal day."

"You're gonna jinx it." Mina replies. "Just keep an eye on your phone, who knows when Sana will call and bring us into another mess."

"I could just turn my phone off."

"Nayeon, no."

"Lame." Nayeon finishes putting on her pants. Then, they leave the studio and go down to the lobby.

"Are you coming home with me?" Nayeon asks.

"Yeah. I feel better knowing you're safe."

"Sana mentioned that the Bitch could just like... break down my walls."

"...Sort of safe?"

Nayeon nudges her with her shoulder. "Maybe I like having you around."

Mina smiles back. "Maybe I should just move in with you or something."

Nayeon giggles. "Maybe."

The silence is comfortable and Nayeon looks down. She brushes her fingers against Mina's, then holds her hand.

Before they can intertwine their fingers, Nayeon feels her phone vibrating in her pocket.

She stops walking and groans, letting go of Mina's hand. "Please don't be Sana, please don't be Sana..." She picks up. "Hello?"

It's a familiar voice. "Nayeon, we need help."

"Chaeyoung?"

Mina frowns. The doctor who lived with Tzuyu? This couldn't be good.

"Chaeyoung, hold on, speak slowly—" Nayeon widens her eyes. "She ran away??"

Yeah, definitely not good.

"Ok, but why did you call m—" Nayeon freezes. "Oh. Oh, this is not good."

Mina rolls her eyes. "Great."

"Ok, Chaeyoung, we're coming." Nayeon stops and something inside her burns. Someone. She feels a headache and asks automatically. "What's the hunter's name?"

When she hears the name, it's like something clicks. Nayeon nods. She turns to Mina. "Got it. We're on our way."

Mina just stares at her. "So?"

"Tzuyu ran away and Chaeyoung called Jeongyeon to go after her." Nayeon says without looking back. "We have to find them."

And at this point, Mina can't even get surprised anymore. It's like everyone gravitates towards Nayeon. "Let's go, then."

\--

Jeongyeon watches the streets with a careful eye. A tall girl with prosthetic legs who couldn't have gone too far. She asked her team to call her if they found the target. Just a gut feeling.

She feels her phone buzzing over and over again, but ignores it, focused on the task. The stake gun in Jeongyeon's pocket is a comforting weight. Her hatred for vampires only grew after Seungyeon was attacked. She still wanted to find the one who did it. And logically speaking, if she killed every Silver, she would probably get rid of her at some point.

While her team searches the streets, Jeongyeon focuses on hidden spots in the city. Places where desperate people would hide if they didn't want to be found ever again.

She stops and turns, coming face to face with a wall. Or better yet, a hidden door.

Jeongyeon knocks three times. Soon, someone opens a small widow on top of the door, only their eyes showing.

They speak. "ID."

Jeongyeon pulls out her hunter badge. The person stares at it for a second, then closes the window. Then, Jeongyeon hears various locks being opened.

The wall seems to open slightly and Jeongyeon squishes herself through the crack. That door never opened properly. Once inside, she's greeted by a huge bouncer who makes way for her to walk down the dark corridor.

He speaks calmly. "No fighting inside the club."

"Got it."

Jeongyeon walks down the corridor calmly, hands in her pockets. The bouncer had allowed her to take her gun. They had special agreements with hunters in these places. Jeongyeon hated how she wasn't actually allowed to exterminate every Silver in that place, but rolled with it.

As soon as she reaches the actual club, she squints her eyes. The place was incredibly dark, with green and purple lasers shooting at the ceiling as songs blasted through the speakers. It was too loud. Seungyeon loved meeting her information brokers here. Jeongyeon, not so much.

She makes her way inside, passing through the crowded dance floor, squeezing through drunk people – and vamps. She hates it.

Finally, she reaches the bar. It's not as loud on this side of the club and she finds a seat at the counter. She sighs and calls for the bartender.

"Well, hello there." The bartender is a gorgeous woman who sizes Jeongyeon with golden eyes. Her fangs are way sharper than normal. She wears a skimpy outfit. "What can I get you today, darling?"

"Hyolyn, right?"

"The one and only." She grins. "Welcome home, good hunter."

"I will have a Bloody Mary." Jeongyeon says.

Hyolyn smirks. "Coming right up." She turns around to prepare the drink.

Jeongyeon waits, looking at the people by her side from the corner of her eyes. A human on her left, a Golden on her right. Silvers on other seats.

She feels suffocated by the atmosphere, but has to suck it up. The fastest way to find who she's looking for was here. These people knew everything.

Hyolyn returns soon after with her drink. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Jeongyeon takes a sip and scrunches her nose. Too strong.

Hyolyn laughs at her reaction. "You don't drink much, I take it?"

"Nah. My sister is better at handling her alcohol."

"How is Seungyeonnie, by the way?"

Jeongyeon grips her cup. "Could be better." She decides to cut the crap. "I need to find someone."

"Of course you do."

"Ran away from home not too long ago. Tall, two prosthetic legs. Some friends are quite desperate." Jeongyeon relays the information.

"And so are you, if you came all the way here." Hyolyn leans on the counter. Jeongyeon tries to only look at her face as the bartender keeps speaking. "Is she human?"

"Maybe."

"So you don't know." Hyolyn says.

"Just a hunch." Jeongyeon shrugs.

"Hmm." Hyolyn could pretty much be eating her alive with her eyes. "You hunters have some pretty good hunches."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning she's a sad, sad Silver sitting right there." She nods at the counter.

Jeongyeon turns her face to look and sees a Silver drinking from a red cup. Her face was scarred, and she looked incredibly depressed.

Jeongyeon's first instinct is to pull her gun, but she couldn't cause trouble in the club. She takes another sip of her drink. "Thank you."

Leaving her drink at the counter, Jeongyeon gets up and walks towards Tzuyu. Hyolyn watches her carefully.

Tzuyu finishes drinking her blood for the night, tasting her last meal. She had brought the blood bags to the club to help the place feed vamps in need. It was a good place.

Tzuyu lifts her gaze and sees someone approaching her. A woman. She was familiar, somehow. She wore a long coat. Hunters usually wore long coats.

The lights kept flashing on her face, morphing her features in quick succession. One of the flashes makes Tzuyu remember.

The girl.

She had the same eyes from that night. It's like she never changed. But she had no idea Tzuyu was the one who had destroyed her life.

Was this karma?

Maybe it was what Tzuyu deserved.

She intended to die in the morning, but maybe death had come for her a bit early.

"Tzuyu?" Jeongyeon asks as soon as she's close enough.

"Yes." Tzuyu responds. She has no idea how the girl will react. "Are you a hunter?"

"Yes." Jeongyeon is conflicted. "Your friend Chaeyoung called me. She's worried about you."

Tzuyu looks down. "She always is."

Jeongyeon puts a hand in her pocket, touching her gun slightly. She couldn't cause a scene here.

Tzuyu looks at the hunter's body language. Poor girl. She probably wanted to kill her right now, but couldn't due to the club's rules.

Tzuyu gets up slowly. "Help me go outside."

Jeongyeon is surprised at how easy that was. She realizes that Tzuyu can't walk properly due to her faulty legs and wraps an arm around her waist to help.

Tzuyu wonders if the universe is watching this and having fun at her expense. That's all she's ever been.

A huge joke.

They walk slowly, with Jeongyeon supporting her gently. In a few minutes, they leave the club and go outside.

"Over there. It's quieter." Tzuyu points to the back alley and Jeongyeon frowns. She takes her there. Tzuyu then moves away and sits on the concrete, against a wall.

Tzuyu looks up at the starry sky, savoring her last moments. She wished she could say she had a good life, but nothing about her existence had been good.

Well. Maybe one thing.

Chaeyoung and Dahyun's smiles come to mind.

"Thank you for existing with me." Tzuyu whispers.

Jeongyeon doesn't know what this Silver is doing, but feels like it might be a trap of some sorts. She grabs her gun. "Alright, what is this? Why did you bring me here?"

"To kill me without making a fuss." Tzuyu replies.

Jeongyeon frowns. "You... want to die?"

"Yes."

"What about your friend?" Jeongyeon asks.

"She's fine without me."

"She didn't sound fine on the phone."

"That doesn't matter. Because you will kill me anyway." Tzuyu closes her eyes.

"...Why?"

"Because I killed your parents, Yoo Jeongyeon."

Jeongyeon freezes. "What?"

"You and your sister were children. I brought a stray cat to your house, you let me stay, then I murdered your parents when they came home. There was a fire." Tzuyu mumbles.

Jeongyeon points her gun at her, hand trembling. "You... you're not Jihyo. How do you know this?"

"Jihyo erased your memories to make you think she was the one who did it all. But it was all a lie." Tzuyu opens her eyes and looks at her. "You grew up wanting to kill the wrong Silver. I'm the one who did it."

Jeongyeon feels dizzy. Like her world was turning upside down.

"Shut up." Jeongyeon steps forward.

"Do it." Tzuyu says, numbly. "I'm not doing this to protect Jihyo. I hate her too. But you deserve to know the truth."

"Shut up!" Jeongyeon's eyes are blurred.

"Do it!"

"Jeong, no!" Another voice yells.

Jeongyeon pulls the trigger.

\--

Tzuyu waits. She's always wondered what comes after death for a vampire. She's seen many Silvers turn to dust as soon as they are staked. If things happened this fast, then it was good.

But nothing happens. She feels something warm dripping on her thigh.

She opens her eyes.

Someone jumped in front of her to stop the stake from hitting her chest. Tzuyu sees the girl and remembers her from that night as well. "Mina...?"

Then she looks at Mina's chest, where the stake was lodged. The warmth was her blood dripping.

Mina grunts and falls on top of her.

"Mina!" Nayeon yells and runs to her. "Fuck, no, no, no." She turns to Jeongyeon. "She can't die like this, right?"

There is so much going on that Jeongyeon drops her gun and steps back. "W-what— Mina—"

Nayeon hits the concrete with a fist. "Stop mumbling and help me!"

Jeongyeon shuts down every question and finally moves, taking Mina away from Tzuyu. She's choking. "We need to— to remove the stake."

"Won't that just make her bleed more??" Nayeon rubs her eyes. "Shit, I'm not a doctor!"

"I never staked a Golden before!" Jeongyeon says.

Nayeon doesn't want to touch Mina, afraid of doing something wrong. She forces her brain to think. "I know a doctor, she doesn't live far from here. We need to take Mina to her."

"We gotta remove the stake first!" Jeongyeon is sweating.

"Fuck, then do it! Then we'll carry her."

Jeongyeon forces her hands to stop trembling and looks at Mina. She's choking in her own pain, not blood. It's like having a piece of wood eternally pierced to your body.

With the stake gone, she could heal.

"H-hold on, Mina. This will hurt." Jeongyeon grabs the stake.

"J-Jeong-" Mina speaks, delirious on pain. She coughs again, breathing raggedly.

Jeongyeon never thought she would be pulling her own stake from her ex-girlfriend's chest. Not in a million years. She felt like utter shit. "On three..." She trembles. "One, two—"

She pulls.

Mina doesn't yell. She's not strong enough for it. Instead she just lets out tiny, desperate gargles that Nayeon can't bear hearing.

The blood spills, soaking her shirt. Jeongyeon breathes heavily, her body numbed by what she just did.

Nayeon has to get a grip. "Carry her."

Jeongyeon gently pulls her to her chest, one arm around her back, another around her legs. She gets up, carrying a bloody Mina bridal-style.

Nayeon walks toward Tzuyu and helps her up, one hand around her shoulders. "Let's go."

"But I—"

"Let's. Go." Nayeon's eyes almost shine.

Tzuyu can't refuse, suddenly.

Nayeon goes ahead. "Follow me. Chaeyoung will know what to do."

Jeongyeon kneels once again to grab her gun and the bloody stake, then follows them. She would have time to ask questions later.

Right now, Mina was all that mattered to her.

\--

"Chaeng, stop pacing around, you're giving me anxiety." Dahyun says, sitting on their couch.

"We should be out there."

"Nayeon is probably on her way here, then we can all leave and try to find Tzuyu together. Sit down!"

Chaeyoung huffs.

Then there are loud knocks on her door.

Chaeyoung flies to the door and what she finds when she opens it isn't exactly reassuring.

"A little help, doc." Nayeon says, walking in with Tzuyu.

Dahyun gets up. "Tzu—!" Then she sees that hunter from the other day carrying a bloodied girl in her arms. "What the hell??"

"Where can I put her? She's bleeding badly." Jeongyeon asks Chaeyoung.

"U-uh— here, on the table!" Chaeyoung makes space on their living room table and Jeongyeon lays Mina on it gently. "Dubs, grab the gauze!"

"On it." Dahyun runs.

Nayeon drops Tzuyu on the couch.

"What can I do to help?" Jeongyeon is fidgety.

Chaeyoung assesses the situation. "What happened to her?"

"A stake went through her." Jeongyeon says. "She's a Golden, though. She won't die, but— there's so much blood."

Dahyun comes back with the gauze and a towel. "Press down."

Jeongyeon presses the towel down on her chest.

Nayeon watches as the three girls work on Mina's wound, then frowns. "Wait, she's a vampire. She doesn't need any of this, she needs blood." She turns to Tzuyu. "Right?"

"Y-yes." She averts her gaze. "Yours is powerful."

Nayeon gets up. "Dahyun, grab me a bowl and a knife."

"H-huh?"

"Now!"

Dahyun jumps and moves. "R-right!"

Nayeon looks at Mina as she waits. She looked so weak. "Hold on, Mina. You're not gonna suffer much longer."

Dahyun returns with what she asked. "Here... careful."

Nayeon places the bowl on the table and presses the knife to her wrist. She looks at Chaeyoung. "Where can I cut so the blood flows but doesn't kill me in the process?"

Chaeyoung winces at the request. She moves Nayeon's hand down. "Here. We'll stop your bleeding afterwards."

And without hesitating, Nayeon makes a small cut. She winces at the pain, but doesn't let it bother her.

The bowl slowly fills with her blood. It takes longer than she planned.

At some point, she starts getting dizzy. Chaeyoung grabs her arm. "That's enough."

Chaeyoung takes Nayeon to the bathroom to clean herself and wrap the wound. "Feed it to her." Nayeon says.

Dahyun steps back and looks at Tzuyu, who has the same shiny eyes as her. "Y-yeah, we better not get near that. Hunter, you do it."

Jeongyeon nods and takes the bowl.

"Mina? Here, drink this." She speaks lowly.

Mina still has her eyes closed and her mouth half-opened. As soon as the bowl gets near her nose, she stirs, grunting. Slowly, she opens her eyes. Mina tries to speak, but nothing comes out.

Jeongyeon just tilts the bowl. "Drink."

Slowly, Mina sips it. Some of it drips from the corner of her mouth, but she keeps a steady pace.

Jeongyeon can't really distinguish what she is right now. A hunter feeding blood to a vampire, or an ex-girlfriend taking care of someone she never stopped missing. Both, maybe.

The bowl is finally empty by the time Chaeyoung and Nayeon come back from the bathroom. They check on Mina, and a little bit of color seemed to have returned to her face.

Nayeon looks at the wound and suddenly it's like it starts moving. Closing. "Holy shit. That's fast."

"Too fast." Tzuyu says suddenly. She gets up with Dahyun's help, moving slowly toward the table. "Virgin blood is powerful, but not that powerful."

Nayeon frowns. "What do you mean?"

"I mean your blood is more special than I thought."

Nayeon's heart leaps a beat.

Magical blood properties aside, Nayeon finally takes her time to look around the room. All the people gathered here knew each other in some way or another. From their past, from their relationships, from love.

Nayeon was starting to stop believing in coincidences.

Chaeyoung turns away from Mina now that she knows that she's healing and looks at Tzuyu. The vampire looks back, and her lip trembles. "Chaeng—"

Chaeyoung throws herself into Tzuyu's arms, all the tears she held back until this point finally free. "Don't ever do this again..."

Tzuyu freezes. She doesn't know what this is. The absolute worry, the relief on someone's voice after knowing she's alive.

Chaeyoung cared about her.

No one has ever cared about her before.

Tzuyu closes her eyes and hugs her back, burying her nose on Chaeyoung's hair. "Sorry." She lifts her gaze at Dahyun and spreads her arm.

Dahyun sobs, jumping into the hug as well. "Welcome home."

"I'm... home." Tzuyu mutters.

Nayeon watches the three with a soft gaze. That crisis was averted.

Then she looks back at Jeongyeon. One more to solve.

"Hey," Nayeon speaks and Jeongyeon looks at her. "Thank you for helping."

"I caused this in the first place." Jeongyeon's legs suddenly feel like jelly. She grabs a chair and sits, still next to Mina. "Don't thank me for anything."

"Right..." Nayeon sits next to her.

Both look at Mina. Despite the bloodied table and clothes, she looked peaceful now. Resting.

"You know the last thing I told her?" Jeongyeon speaks up suddenly. Nayeon just waits. "That I hated her."

That stings more than the cut on her wrist. "Oh."

"I was so... _so_ mad at her for what she did to my sister." Jeongyeon continues. "For telling her to go after a Silver that ended up paralyzing her. I never wanted to see her again." Jeongyeon sighs. "But now... I just want her to be ok. It's like that anger never existed."

Nayeon doesn't know why, but something compels her to put a hand on Jeongyeon's shoulder and comfort her. "Mina is... so fucking stubborn. I don't think she can hold a grudge for the life of her."

Jeongyeon is surprised to feel herself smiling at this. "She never changed."

Nayeon smiles too. "You've known each other for a long time, haven't you?"

"Since we were kids." Jeongyeon feels exhausted. "Shit happened. We dated. We broke up. She got turned into a vampire and never talked to me again." She sighs. "Maybe we should've kept it that way."

"No. Meeting her, dating her, hating her, saving her, all of this had to happen." Nayeon shakes her head.

Jeongyeon raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Nayeon stutters. She probably sounded crazy again. "J-just trust me on this. I'm a lunatic with a goal."

"Okay...?” Jeongyeon shifts her gaze to Tzuyu again. “Not that any of it matters. Apparently, my whole life has been a lie."

Tzuyu cowers under the powerful stare. It was the exact same one of the one that night, when the little girl had pointed the stake gun at her. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry isn't gonna cut it." Jeongyeon says. "If it's really all true and you're the one who killed my parents—"

At that moment Chaeyoung and Dahyun step in between them.

"Don't hurt her." Chaeyoung drops her guard. "Please. She's been through so much."

Jeongyeon isn’t fazed by it. "She's not the only one."

Nayeon puts a hand on Jeongyeon's arm. "Okay, let's all calm down. We shouldn't be fighting each other."

"And who are you, anyway?" Jeongyeon finally asks.

"A lunatic with a goal, as I previously said." Nayeon crosses her arms.

"What goal is that?"

"Killing the real enemy!"

"What are you even talking about?" Jeongyeon feels a headache coming.

"First, hi! I'm Nayeon. Nice to meet you." She offers a hand. Jeongyeon just stares, but doesn't shake it. Nayeon retracts her hand. "Right. Wonderful."

Tzuyu sneezes.

"Bless you." Everyone says.

"Alright, we're bonding!" Nayeon smiles, clasping her hands together. "I'll explain everything as soon as Mina wakes up, which can be in a long time from now—"

"I'm up." Mina speaks weakly, making Jeongyeon and Nayeon nearly fall off their chairs. Mina almost laughs. "Uh, sorry."

Silence fills the room, no one exactly sure of who should be talking right now. Mina feels all eyes on her and gets a little shy. Then, she sees Tzuyu. "Oh, h-hello. I'm a big fan of your streams. My username is CranberryJuice20."

Tzuyu widens her eyes. "Cranberry!"

Nayeon has to bite her lip to stop from breaking into a fit of giggles at how utterly ridiculous everything sounds.

"We're all acquainted with each other, great job team. There is just one—" Nayeon stops, a headache incoming. "...Two people missing."

Yeah, sounded about right.

\--

This was rare and very weird.

"Eat." Jihyo says as she tosses the body to Sana.

Sana just looks at her, confused. "For me?"

"Did I stutter?" Jihyo flinches, almost imperceptibly. She turns to Momo. "You stay here. I'm going to meditate. Do not bother me."

Momo only nods.

As soon as they can't hear Jihyo's steps anymore, Momo and Sana exchange gazes. "She hunted for me." Sana looks at the body by her feet. It was a tall, muscular man, with enough blood for a nice feast. "A good one, too."

Momo sits by her side. "Feels like a last meal."

Sana feels all strength draining from her body. "So that's what this is."

Momo puts a hand on her shoulder. "I was joking."

"But you're probably right." Sana groans. "I think I fucked it all up."

"You didn't." Momo insists. "And if you did, I'll protect you."

"I can't fuck this up, Momo. It's not about just us anymore." Sana rubs her temples. "I really think Nayeon is onto something and we need to be alive for it."

Momo tries to remember everything Sana told her yesterday. "Right, Nayeon. The one who can apparently break our curse."

Sana giggles. "Sorry for dumping all of that on you. I'm more impressed you believed me."

"I trust you with my soul, Sana." Momo smirks. "I'm more impressed you believed this Nayeon girl, honestly."

"There's just something about her." Sana frowns. "If you met her..."

"If I could leave Jihyo's side for a second, who knows." Momo shrugs.

Sana looks at her meal again. "Jihyo has been allowing you to spend time with me lately. Maybe she's having a change of heart after all these years." They keep quiet, then break into laughter. "Yeah, right."

"Just eat before it gets cold." Momo nudges her with an elbow and Sana dives in.

Momo watches and smiles softly. She can't recall the last time they were allowed to be together for two consecutive nights. Momo was willing to trust anyone to break the curse at this point.

"So Nayeon thinks she knows a way to kill Jihyo." Momo mutters. Sana gives her a thumbs up, teeth still in busy. "And this plan has something to do with Jihyo herself crafting a whole complicated arrangement to actually get herself killed."

Sana shrugs.

"Hmm. Did you realize that this whole ordeal happened to coincide with the exact timeframe Jihyo started acting weird again?" Momo says.

Sana finally finishes and cleans her mouth. "Yes. One more reason for me to believe her." Momo and Sana were no strangers to Jihyo's red wrists.

The retainers have been with Jihyo for over 400 years now. They stuck close to her, watched Jihyo build her empire from the bottom, but there were still moments when Jihyo vanished and never told anyone what she was doing. She would come back with red wrists and a bad mood.

No one ever questioned her. Jihyo did what she wanted and those foolish enough to question her ended up dead or broken. Sana and Momo couldn't risk themselves like this, so they just let her be.

This had been happening since they met her. Maybe even before that.

"Maybe her mood swings weren't just vampire PMS, after all." Sana jokes and Momo snorts, shaking her head.

"A half Golden who's never entrusted anyone with her story before turning..." Momo speaks to herself. "I mean, she had to have been human at some point. Right?"

"Yeah."

The man grunts and starts moving. Sana and Momo pause and stare. "Shit, forgot to get rid of him."

Momo gets up. "I'll do it."

She grabs and throws him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, then opens the window. Momo jumps down, leaves him on the street, and returns.

Sana watches and something suddenly strikes her. "Momo... you've turned lots of people into vampires before, right? A lot more than me."

"Hm? Yeah." Momo sits back down.

"Did any of them ever end up a Golden?"

Momo pauses, trying to remember. Then, she freezes. "...Never."

Sana feels like she's been knocked out.

How could something so obvious fly right past her like this? They didn't know how Goldens started existing, but as soon as they started appearing, more and more popped up. The obvious conclusion was a mutation of some sort.

But was it?

\--

It hurt.

Jihyo grasps at her eyepatch, walking down the street with one hand on a wall, her nails scratching the surface.

It hurt. It hurt.

She huffs, staggering, but focused on getting to where she needed to go.

It hurt. It hurt. It hurt.

Her golden eye hurt.

Finally, she reaches the abandoned building. It was dark, but her silver eye could see without problems.

She stops at the entrance and looks around the painted walls. Satisfied with how things were turning out, she walks in. Jihyo reaches the bucket of paint and grabs her brush.

Even with the unruly pain, Jihyo goes on. Painting calmed her down.

Her brush slides through the walls, creating lines and circles big enough to take her mind off her eye for a second. She needed to be precise with her art. Perfection was the key.

Up, down, circle.

She grabs a ladder and climbs up to reach the tallest parts of the columns. There were many columns in the abandoned building, and they were important.

Side dash, down, circle.

She would finish painting tonight. She's been working on this piece for a few months, now.

So busy.

The pain finally subdues and Jihyo sighs in relief. Thank you.

Her brush slides again. Circle. Down again, side dash. Up.

It was done.

Jihyo climbs down. She moves to the entrance of the building again and applies the final touch.

A small X on the floor. Not subtle at all.

Jihyo lifts her head up, removes her eyepatch and looks at her masterpiece with both eyes.

Yes, that would work.

She puts her eyepatch back and tosses the brush aside. It was done.

And if she was lucky, she would be able to show it to the person it was meant for soon.

\--

"Well, I'm going to meet with Nayeon again soon. Maybe she'll have figured more things out by the time I get there." Sana says, stretching her arm. She nearly falls, out of balance, but Momo catches her.

Momo chuckles. "Don't go falling for me."

Sana smiles. "I do it every day."

They stare at each other for a moment and Momo fills Sana's emptiness with a kiss. Sana pulls her closer as Momo dips her. Such a romantic.

She needed to be with her again. Like this. Forever. Jihyo needed to die.

They part and Sana's eyes are glossed over. "Momo—"

Steps.

The two pull away from each other and wait. They know her by the sound of her steps.

Jihyo walks into the room. "Meditation time is over."

Momo nods and looks at Sana. "See you."

Sana hates this. But she forces a smile because she can't ruin this chance they might have. "Bye."

Before they leave the room, Jihyo speaks, without turning around. "Momo."

Momo stops. "Yes?"

"You are not to leave my side anymore. From now until forever." Jihyo turns her face. "If you want something from her, Sana, you can just come to us."

And with that, Jihyo leaves.

Momo doesn't follow her right away. She stays rooted in place, then she looks at Sana. Sana's eyes are wide.

What does she mean 'from now until forever'?

"Momo, if you don't want to have your bond cut, you'll come to me in five seconds." Jihyo says from outside the room.

"Five."

Momo shakes her head, desperately.

"Four."

Sana has never felt this much fear in her entire life.

"Three."

Sana gestures for Momo to go. Please, just go.

"Two."

Momo mouths something. _'Break the curse.'_

"One."

"I'm here!" Momo runs to Jihyo. "I'm here."

Sana falls on the couch. She's alone in the room. That kiss they shared was probably the last of their lives.

Jihyo's words had cut deep into their worst fears. Was this her punishment for interrupting Jihyo yesterday?

She should've kept being good. She should've just obeyed.

Maybe she just needed to get back to Jihyo's good side.

Yes, that was it.

Sana would just do as she was told. No more running around on her own, no more flirting with anyone. She would go to Jihyo's bed every night. Momo would be there, too.

She would be a good retainer.

…

Yeah, right.

Sana gets up and jumps off the window.

Her feet hit the concrete. Her eyes are blurry, her hand is shaking, but she grabs her phone. She dials a number.

The girl picks up. "Right on time, too!"

Sana speaks. "Nayeon, where are you. We have a bitch to kill."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on twitter @niigoki_


	13. Chapter 13

"There is just one—" Nayeon stops, a headache incoming. "...Two people missing."

More silence. Jeongyeon doesn't know what this is all about, but she's starting to get pissed. She didn't like being kept in the dark.

Then, Nayeon's phone rings. She checks the number and smiles, picking it right up. "Right on time, too!"

"Nayeon, where are you. We have a bitch to kill." It's the first time Sana doesn't greet her with a joke.

Something serious must have happened. "I'm sending you the address."

Chaeyoung and Dahyun exchange gazes, confused and worried.

Mina leans against the wall, still a bit dizzy. "Please tell me it's not who I think it is."

Nayeon looks back at her with an apologetic grin and Mina groans.

"More friends?" Dahyun asks.

"We need her here." Nayeon replies. "She's fast—"

Someone knocks on the door.

"That's way too fast." Dahyun raises an eyebrow.

Everyone looks at Chaeyoung and the doctor blushes. "W-what?"

"It's your house." Nayeon says. "I don't know, it feels kind of impolite to open the door."

Chaeyoung rolls her eyes and gets up. "After everything that happened..."

The tiny doctor opens the door and stops when a pair of piercing silver eyes greet her. "Hey."

"H-hey." Chaeyoung steps aside. "Just... come in. I have no idea what's going on anymore."

Sana bows with a playful grin. "Thanks, you're so kind." Then she stops to look around the room. "And what a mess we have here." Sana's eyes stop on Tzuyu and her smirk falls. "Nayeon wasn't kidding. You're still alive."

Tzuyu curls herself into a ball, trying her best to disappear. The things she was afraid of were coming true. "Sana."

But Sana doesn't really care. She finds an empty chair and sits. She rolls her head and finds her next target. "You even got yourselves a hunter."

Jeongyeon's instincts were screaming, ever since this vampire walked in. She hated her already. "Watch your mouth, Silver."

"Jeong." Mina warns her.

Sana then realizes. "You're the sister."

Mina brings her hands to her mouth. Stupid. That was a stupid move.

Jeongyeon's eyes widen and she takes a step forward. "What did you say?"

"We don't have _time_ for this!" Nayeon interjects, stepping between the two. "Please. We need to work together now, more than ever."

Jeongyeon takes Nayeon by the collar of her shirt, pulling her close. "No, _you_ listen to me. I was dragged here after learning that _that_ Silver killed my parents," She points at Tzuyu. "And now _this_ Silver knows my sister. I want to know why. You stay out of this."

Mina and Sana immediately get up, grabbing Jeongyeon by the elbow. Sana growls. "Let her go if you want to keep your arm."

Nayeon puts a hand up. "Sana. Step back."

Sana hesitantly obeys. Mina does, too. She has no idea why she jumped Jeongyeon like this.

Jeongyeon lets go.

Nayeon takes some time to breathe. She closes her eyes for a brief moment and feels something. There is a restlessness inside her, and it's been growing stronger with each encounter. She was afraid of listening to it, but now she needs its help.

She feels calmer, suddenly.

When she opens her eyes, Nayeon knows what to do. "You're right. Your life has been hell and you deserve to know everything." Her tone is soothing and Jeongyeon's tense shoulders slowly drop. "Everyone here needs to know everything before we make this work. I'll tell you."

So, she does.

Jeongyeon learns that Sana paralyzed her sister, but lost an arm. Learns about Tzuyu being forced to kill her parents, then ripping off her own legs for it. Learns about Sana and Momo being bound to Jihyo. Chaeyoung and Dahyun listen as well, to everything.

Jeongyeon learns that the reason Mina vanished after turning was because she had been taken in by Jihyo's coven. Learns that Sana had taken care of her. Learns that Goldens will never have bondmates.

Jeongyeon learns about Jihyo and her golden eye. She comes to know everything.

All Jeongyeon does after that is sit back down in silence.

"I understand if you don't want to be here after this." Nayeon finishes. "But know that everyone here has a reason to kill her, as much as you do. And a hunter as skilled as you would be a great help."

Mina and Sana gaze down at their feet. Chaeyoung and Dahyun hold hands with Tzuyu. The atmosphere was heavy.

"And you?" Jeongyeon's voice is weak.

Nayeon blinks. "Me?"

"What is your reason?"

Nayeon opens her mouth, but the answer gets stuck. She thought it was obvious. "I..."

Nayeon wanted to kill her for all the terrible things she did to these vampires. Wanted to free Sana and Momo from their curse. Wanted to rid the world from what apparently was a Huge Bitch.

But that wasn't her reason.

"I have to." She speaks without meaning to.

Everyone stares at her and Nayeon frowns. She rubs her temples, her headache getting worse. "I just— I just have to. But I need you. All of you."

Mina frowns. Nayeon was acting weird again, but this would have to wait. Right now, Nayeon needed support, so Mina speaks first. "I'm in."

Sana nods. "Me too." She looks at Tzuyu. "You?"

Tzuyu squeezes the hands holding hers. She didn't want any of this. Hell, she ripped her legs off to run away, but now she was being dragged into this again.

Her eyes stop on Jeongyeon's. She looked so tired. Like a kid abandoned by the world.

She could relate.

"...Okay."

"Tzu..." Chaeyoung speaks.

"I want— I want to make this right. I took her world from her when she was a kid. My world was taken from me as well. I can't live with this guilt." Tzuyu looks at Chaeyoung. "It's so tiring, Chaeng. I want to rest properly."

Chaeyoung sighs and nods.

"Well," Dahyun smiles a little. "You know that if you're doing it, then we are too, right?"

Tzuyu shakes her head. "No, you don't have—"

"Hey, come on. It's the first time I feel important. Let me have this." Dahyun jokes, but she's shaking.

Chaeyoung grins. "We've got you."

"Touching." Sana finally interrupts. "No offense, but you'll be as good as dead. I get asking the hunter for help, but what do you expect a crippled Silver, a terrified Golden and a tiny human to do in a fight?"

"Rude." Dahyun mutters. "...She does have a point, though."

"That's why we have to figure out a plan." Nayeon says. "Chaeyoung and I won't be doing anything, we're too weak for that. But Chaeyoung is a doctor _and_ has blood bags. That can be useful in case the vamps get hurt."

"Oh, so she's the healer!" Dahyun says excitedly.

Nayeon frowns. "Yeah, she's... literally a doctor."

"No, like in games. A party always needs a good healer. Especially when fighting a boss." Dahyun elaborates.

"...A boss?" Nayeon is confused.

"She thinks games are for nerds." Mina explains. Tzuyu looks a little shocked.

"Fine, she will be the healer, whatever." Nayeon rolls her eyes.

"There's just a little problem..." Chaeyoung says. "I'm out of blood bags and I'll need time to get more."

"How long?"

"Maybe a month...?"

Nayeon hums. "I guess we can wait."

Sana punches the table. "No."

Every head turns to her and Mina frowns. "What gives?"

"We don't have time. We need to kill her _now_." Sana sounds desperately frustrated.

Nayeon gets closer. "What happened, Sana?"

Sana unclenches her fist. "...It's Momo. Jihyo took her away from me for good. I can't..."

Nayeon understands why she sounded like that on the phone, now. She places a hand over Sana's. "Hey. We're going to help Momo, ok? But we need time to prepare for this. We're all untrained and we have no plan yet. We can't just rush in and get everyone killed."

Sana huffs.

"Sana. Look at me." Nayeon pleads and Sana lifts her gaze. Her shiny eyes lose their glow as she slowly calms down. "This is going to work. I know it will. She made sure of it."

Sana frowns. "She?"

Nayeon blinks, shaking her head. "I mean— I. I'll make sure of it."

Sana feels like something is off, but disregards it for now. She sighs and looks at Chaeyoung. "A month. That's how long we have to prepare."

Chaeyoung nods.

Sana turns to Mina. "And you. I need to train you better."

Mina smirks for some reason. "Fine, I admit it."

Sudden exhaustion washes over Nayeon and she feels her muscles giving up. She really needs to sleep. "We'll keep in touch with each other. Just give me your numbers."

Jeongyeon finally gets up and moves to the door.

Nayeon turns to her. "Where are you going?"

"Home." Jeongyeon sounds lifeless.

"But... our plan—"

"You can't expect me to answer you right now. Not with everything you told me still fresh in my head." Jeongyeon snaps, then takes a deep breath. "...I need to think about everything. Alone." She opens the door. "Goodbye."

Something about seeing Jeongyeon's back makes Mina's heart constrict in her chest. She wants to reach out and ask her, please, stay. Just this once, I promise I won't leave you again.

But Mina can't.

As soon as Jeongyeon is gone, she wants to cry. But she needs to be strong.

"She'll come around." Mina forces herself to say. "Trust her."

Nayeon wants to, very badly. Without her, this will be for naught. "Okay. Yeah, sounds fair."

The rest of the group exchanges numbers and Nayeon creates a group chat. She names it _'Nerds'_. Mina rolls her eyes.

"Well, then." Nayeon finally gets up. "We gotta go. We have an MV to shoot tomorrow."

Sana laughs. "Seriously? Through all of this, you're still trying to debut?"

Mina comes to her defense. "People with two hands can multitask."

Sana’s smile fades. "Oh, I'm kicking your ass when we train." Then, she turns to Dahyun. "You, too. If you have to be there, then you need to know how to fight."

"M-me?"

"Don't you want to have a better grasp on your abilities, Goldie?"

These words alone make Dahyun's eyes shine. "Y-yes ma'am!"

Sana likes it. "Keep calling me that."

Finally, Sana looks at Tzuyu. "And you... you've always been a good fighter. But you're useless with these prosthetics."

Tzuyu looks down in shame and Chaeyoung feels defensive. "Hey. That's not her faul—"

"Yes, it is. It's all her fault." Sana replies, dryly.

Nayeon is about to speak but Mina stops her with a hand on her shoulder.

Sana walks towards Tzuyu and gets on one knee, eye-level with her. "If you want to make amends, then you need to start trying. One bad mistake doesn't rule out the possibility of redemption. Try, Tzuyu."

Tzuyu is surprised to find not an ice-cold glare in Sana's features, but an almost warm demeanor. They've never been close, but both suffered under Jihyo's suffocating presence.

Tzuyu had always thought that Sana was too good of a person on the inside. She nods. "...I will."

Nayeon smiles softly at them. She steals a glance at Mina and realizes she's smiling as well. "We're all good?" Nayeon asks.

Sana gets up. "Guess we are. I'll accompany you two home."

Mina relents; it’s hard to deny the offer. The three finally bid the others goodbye and leave.

\--

Nayeon finds herself in the middle of them again. It's weird how everything feels casual now, considering Mina and Sana wouldn't stop bickering the last time they did this. Maybe Sana was too worried about Momo to argue pointlessly.

This had to work, for their sake.

"Here we are." Sana says as they reach Nayeon's porch. "No vampires in sight. Safe and sound."

"Thank you." Nayeon smiles. She pokes Mina.

"Yeah, thanks." Mina begrudgingly says.

Sana chuckles. "I really became your chaperone, huh? You better pay me for my services."

"Keep dreaming." Mina says, but without the spikes from before.

Before Sana can leave, Nayeon says. "As soon as I'm recharged, I'll contact everyone, I promise. We will put an end to this."

"Right." Sana nods. She averts her gaze. "I can wait a month to have Momo back if it means I’ll have her back for good."

Mina feels the heaviness of her words and is compelled to say something. "We'll break the curse, Sana. Together."

Sana feels weirdly emotional for a second. She lets out a breathy laugh. "You really never gave up on me, huh..."

"Hm?"

Sana ruffles Mina's hair. "Nothing."

If Mina could blush, she would. Sana's affections still did things to her, even after all this time. But it was more just the vestiges of an old crush than anything else now.

"I'll leave you love-birds alone." Sana winks. "Night, Nerds." She jumps high and disappears.

When Mina turns around, Nayeon is staring with a smug smirk. "What?"

"Nothing. It's just kinda cute how she still gets you flustered." Nayeon teases.

"Oh, shut up." Mina hides her embarrassment. "Besides, I don't like her like that anymore."

"Oh?"

"There's someone else."

"Ohh, who? Tell me, tell me." Nayeon provokes her, opening the door to her house.

"Just someone who is very annoying," Mina grins, watching her. "She thinks she knows everything. Is incredibly self-centered. A bit crazy, too."

"Sounds bad."

"She's the worst."

Nayeon walks in, taking off her shoes. "Why do you like her, then?"

Mina follows her inside, but keeps the door open. "She's also beautiful. Funny as hell. And stubborn to a fault. Such a good person, you wouldn't believe."

Nayeon finally turns around to face her. "...Yeah?"

Mina takes a step forward. "Yeah." Her eyes roam Nayeon's features slowly, memorizing every detail. "I guess I just have a thing for insanity."

Nayeon's heart could break out of chest, the weight of everything that happened finally settling in.

She's finally afraid.

She's afraid of being wrong. She's afraid of driving these people to a battle they can't win. She's afraid of destroying their lives. She's afraid of losing them.

But most of all, she's afraid of losing herself.

"Mina..."

Mina cups her face with both hands and says in the lowest voice Nayeon has ever heard, "I'm going to kiss you, now."

Nayeon is completely at her mercy. She doesn't even need to nod.

Mina's lips cover hers, and it's like finally breathing some fresh air in a long time. Nayeon deepens the kiss with a sigh.

Right then, with Mina's mouth on hers and her hands gripping Mina's bloodied shirt, Nayeon knows she can't fail.

She needs to keep her safe. She needs to kiss Mina. Over and over again. Like she's doing now.

A voice echoes in her mind.

_Love. The most powerful weapon._

\--

"How many bags do you need?"

"Forty." Chaeyoung says. "I'm taking care of another hospital and they are in desperate need of donations."

The doctor nods. "Right. I understand." Without a single reason to doubt her, he passes her the papers. "Please sign here, Dr. Son."

Chaeyoung had lied countless times before, but back then it was to feed her most treasured friends. Now, she was preparing for battle. She figured ten blood bags for each vamp was enough in case they got injured in the fight.

She had no idea what she was doing.

Her hands tremble as she signs and the doctor notices. "Rough day?"

"Rough month." Chaeyoung replies, then plays it off. "I just had too much coffee earlier."

The doctor laughs. "Oh, I know the feeling. Even heroes need their coffee, huh?"

Heroes. She didn't feel like one.

"Here you go." Chaeyoung gives him back the papers and he checks all the signatures.

"Everything is in order. They should arrive in a month. Maybe earlier, if you are lucky!"

"I hope so." Chaeyoung remembers Sana's desperation. "The hospital really needs the bags."

She bids him goodbye and leaves, going back to the cold hallways of the hospital. Her head has been a mess since yesterday, but she knew her role, and she would make sure to help everyone the way she could.

"I'm the healer..." Chaeyoung whispers, trying to convince herself.

The fact is, she didn't feel like a healer, or a hero. She felt completely powerless in the face of whatever thousand-year monstrosity they would go against in a month. Everyone else seemed prepared and capable. Even Dahyun was going to be trained.

Chaeyoung had nothing.

She wasn't the only human of the team, but she sure was the most useless of all. Jeongyeon was a skilled hunter. And Nayeon? She was a natural leader. She had everyone wrapped around her finger. It was kind of scary how easily they all trusted her. Chaeyoung did, too.

She wished she could say that she was doing this for Tzuyu only, but her terrible personality just had to go and feel terrible for everyone else involved. Sana, Mina, this Momo girl. Hell, even Jeongyeon, who tried to kill Tzuyu earlier. Chaeyoung felt too much for everyone.

Yeri said that taking everyone's pain for herself would kill her one day. Chaeyoung was starting to believe it now.

She walks by a certain room, then stops, stepping back. Suddenly, something starts cooking in her brain. Then, an idea.

"Buff spells..." She smiles.

\--

Nayeon has no idea what's taking Mina so long, but she was instructed to start filming her solo scenes while Mina finishes getting ready. The set for the MV is huge.

It feels like a dream.

"Pigeon Blood, scene 6." The director says from his loud mic above everyone’s heads. "Action."

The song starts and Nayeon’s body moves automatically. It was still a little weird to have all the focus on herself after weeks training this routine with Mina. But she wasn't complaining.

Nayeon likes the attention.

Her mouth moves to the lyrics and she feels free.

Nayeon thought that grinding on the floor in front of six cameras and an entire staff of people would make her want to die, but she focuses on the beat and her expressions.

"Cut." The director says and Nayeon lies on the floor.

"Was it bad?"

"It was perfect." He smiles.

"Good. I can work with perfect." She laughs weakly and gets up.

The door to Mina's dressing room finally opens. And quite frankly, Nayeon didn't expect to see _that_ after turning around.

Mina has always been pretty.

But blonde Mina was just absolutely unfair.

Like a dumb rom-com, Nayeon stares.

The makeup, the outfit, the hair. God, the _hair_. Nayeon can't stop looking at this woman. She's going to combust, right here, right now.

Mina walks past her and winks.

"Mina, please take the stage. We'll start your solo scenes now." The director interrupts their moment.

Nayeon understands now why she didn't feel like dying after grinding on the floor. It's because watching Mina doing it right in front of her is finally the thing that knocks her out.

"I need water." Nayeon excuses herself, walking in quick steps. Her face, absolutely red.

She drinks three entire cups of water and it's still not enough. When she returns, Mina is still dancing, posing, biting her lower lip like it's nothing. And soon, the two of them would be dancing together.

The risks were calculated, but boy, Nayeon was bad at math.

"Cut. Good job." The director says. "Nayeon, please join her. We'll start the choreography from the beginning."

"R-right." Nayeon actually stutters. She hears Mina stifling her giggles when she approaches her, and wants to hit her. "Shut up."

"You're so cute."

"This is all your fault." Nayeon keeps whispering while the director adjusts the cameras.

"What did I do?"

"You know exactly what."

"Remind me." Mina's voice is sultry. God.

"It's what you _didn't_ do. Yesterday. After we—"

"Alright, let's start." The director cuts in.

"Later." Nayeon finishes and the song starts.

They stop bickering and get into idol mode. Despite everything, it's easy. They rehearsed this routine countless times and they knew each other like no one else at this point. Specially after everything that happened. It flows well.

Then, they reach that part. Nayeon slides behind Mina, hands going up her torso as Mina tilts her head to the side, showing her neck. Nayeon pretends to bite. She swears she can feel Mina's body flinching.

Nayeon smirks involuntarily, looking at the camera.

"Cut."

The girls part and Nayeon bows. "I'm sorry, I know that wasn't the expression I had to—"

"No, no." The director smiles. "I loved it. It felt really natural. Let's do this part one more time, but I think I'll use the first one."

Mina looks at her, confused. Nayeon smirks again.

They do it again, but Mina doesn't flinch this time. Nayeon smirks at the camera, thinking of how rewarding it's going to be when Mina realizes what expression she was making behind her back. It's satisfying.

After a few more shots, they are done. "Good job, everyone!"

Mina and Nayeon applaud together with the staff. Their first MV was done, and they took the whole day. It felt incredible despite how tiring it was.

They move to the dressing room afterwards to remove their extensions and heavy makeup. They can't stop smiling like fools.

After a long time, they're allowed to leave the studio. The girls thank the staff once again and finally get some time to themselves.

Mina looks at Nayeon. "Wanna go to the roof?"

Nayeon smiles. "Yeah. I miss it there."

No one knows who moves first, but they hold hands.

Time inside a filming studio was non-existent, so Nayeon is a bit shocked when they go out and see stars and a dark sky. "Wow... we've been in there the whole day?"

"Time flies when we're having fun." Mina says, guiding Nayeon to the bench. They sit down and enjoy the breeze.

"We did well today, didn't we?" Nayeon asks, because she's still new at this.

"Yeah. We did." Mina steals a glance. "You were amazing."

Nayeon chuckles. "Yeah, I was."

Mina rolls her eyes. "And humble."

"Just one of my many qualities."

"So annoying."

"You love it."

"I do." Mina admits and Nayeon feels something pull at her heartstrings. They keep quiet, sitting close together, until Mina speaks again. "What were you saying back then?"

"Oh. Just... you know." Nayeon looks down. "How unfair it is of you to be so pretty all the time."

"Gross." Mina says and receives a slap on her thigh. She laughs. "But that wasn't it. Something about yesterday..."

Nayeon feels shy suddenly. "Come on, you know what I meant."

Mina softens her gaze. "About... not sleeping with you after all those kisses."

"Yeah."

Mina speaks softly. "I... thought about it. But when I touched you, you looked... a bit surprised? So I stopped. Did I read it wrong?"

Nayeon groans a little. "Not... quite. I don't know. It's just... I've never done this before. As you're well aware." She lets out a breathy chuckle.

"Can I ask why?" Mina tries to be as respectful as possible. "You don't have to tell me."

Nayeon shakes her head. "It's fine. It's just really dumb and lame."

"I swear I won't think so."

Nayeon sighs. "I just never wanted to. With anyone."

Mina blinks. "Oh."

"Until you, I guess." Nayeon looks up at the stars. "Don't get me wrong, I've flirted with people before. I've had a boyfriend. But in our relationship, I never felt like I was ready. And I was just so happy holding hands and cuddling and kissing." She smiles, sadly. "He wasn't."

Mina is pissed at this information. "Did he...?"

"He left me because I wouldn't have sex with him. It hurt like a bitch." Nayeon chuckles. "But I mean, good for me, a man like that isn't worth it anyway."

Mina feels the pain behind the joke. She pulls Nayeon for a hug.

"I can kick his balls if you give me his address." Mina mutters against Nayeon's hair and she laughs.

"You can't get in without being invited."

"Shit."

Nayeon pulls back, feeling better. "But thanks. I appreciate you getting pissed for me."

Mina smiles. "Of course."

"Besides, I think it's good that we didn't do it. You vamps are gonna need my magical virgin blood for the fight, anyway."

Mina snorts loudly at that, breaking into a laughing fit. "Magical— virgin blood—"

"What?? It's true!"

Mina laughs harder. "You're ridiculous!"

Nayeon stares at her until she calms down. "You done?"

"Yes. Oh, boy, I needed to laugh." Mina dries a tear. "But really, don't worry about that. Chaeyoung will take care of it with the blood bags."

"But if someone gets _really_ injured, I can help." Nayeon pouts. "I'm special."

Mina hates how cheesy she's become since meeting Nayeon, but she can't help it. "Yeah, you are."

The way she looks at her is serene and so filled with love that Nayeon loses her ability to retort completely.

God, she loves her. She really does.

"Kiss me?" Nayeon asks.

Mina leans forward, capturing her lips. Nayeon sighs, closing her eyes, one hand cupping the back of Mina's neck. She feels so peaceful and happy right now. No vampires, no doomsday scenario, no blood, or beheadings. Just them.

Nayeon wants this to last.

Her phone rings.

Nayeon groans, burying her head in Mina's neck. "I don't want to pick up..."

Mina giggles, pressing more kisses to her temples. "You have to, leader."

"I hate it." Nayeon leans back and checks the number. "Of course."

Mina grins. "She's always interrupting."

"What." Nayeon says.

Sana just grunts. "Put Mina on the phone you horny mortal, Dahyun is already here for the nightly training session. Check the group chat once in a while, god."

Nayeon passes the phone to Mina. "Your mom wants to talk to you."

Mina grimaces. "Gross!" She puts the phone to her ear. "Yes?"

"Did Nayeon just call me your mom?" There's amusement in Sana's voice.

Mina wants to hide her face in the concrete. "Absolutely not."

Sana laughs hard. "Mina! Do you want to call me momm—"

"I'M HANGING UP."

"Learn to take a joke." Sana keeps giggling. "Anyway, I sent you my location, get here already so we can start training for the Big Bitch Fight."

"That's a dumb name."

"You're a dumb name."

"That doesn't even make sense."

"Just get here already!" Sana hangs up.

Mina sighs, passing the phone back to Nayeon. "Duty calls."

Nayeon gets up, taking Mina with her. "Maybe I should go with you?"

"Nah. I'll leave you at home and go. It's going to be boring, anyway."

Despite the look on her face, Nayeon can tell Mina is excited for this.

\--

Dahyun wasn't excited for this.

"Sorry, did you just say—"

"A hundred laps, yes. Now start running." Sana nods, sitting on top of a big rock in the middle of the park. She liked being on high places.

"But that's—"

"Listen, Goldie, I make the rules. Start running!"

"Y-yes ma'am!"

Sana watches as Dahyun's legs work, carrying her around the field. Sana had put a few rocks on the path to simulate running track.

Sometime later, Mina arrives. She sees Sana on the rock and Dahyun far away. "Did you tell her to run a hundred laps?"

"Yes."

"You're terrible."

"Let me have a little fun, Goldies are so naïve." Sana slides down from the rock, beside Mina.

Mina just watches as Dahyun keeps running. "God, I remember how much I hated you after you made me do that back then."

"Doesn't it bring back memories?" Sana grins and Mina groans.

"Just make her stop, this is sad to watch." Mina says after Dahyun completes her 20th lap.

"Fine. You never let me have fun." Sana then shouts. "Enough, Goldie! Come back!"

Dahyun tries to stop, but trips on herself and falls on her face.

Mina and Sana just stare. "Ouch."

Dahyun finally returns with leaves on her face and a red nose. "S-sorry. Oh, hey Mina!"

Mina removes some leaves from her hair. "Word of advice, you don't have to do everything Sana says."

"Hey, you're undermining my authority!" Sana stops, blinking. "Are you blonde?"

Mina really wants to slap her. "Yes, thanks for noticing."

"Looks good on you." Sana softens her gaze.

Mina looks away. "T-thanks. So, are we training or what?"

"Alright, let's get this started." Sana smirks. "You two, against me."

Dahyun and Mina are suddenly terrified.

"H-hold on, but I don't even know the basics yet! Like, aren't there poses we have to master, or defense—"

Dahyun doesn't finish the sentence before Sana is flying on her direction. With absurd reflexes, Mina pulls her out of the way, and both Goldens roll on the grass.

"You'd be dead by now." Sana says without turning to them. "Jihyo is a lot faster, stronger and probably smarter than I am. If you can't fight me, you'll be dead in a month." She turns her face to them. "You won't be able to protect the people you love. And they'll die too."

Mina and Dahyun get up, playtime over.

"So you either fight me like you want to survive," Sana says, her eyes shining strongly against the moonlight. "Or you let me kill you right here, right now."

Mina stares at her, golden eyes taking a strong shine too. "Let's go."

\--

Tzuyu tries her best to focus on the game in front of her and forget the pain of hunger in her stomach. She would have to survive without feeding, somehow. It was her own fault they were out of blood bags anyway. She would get through this.

She dies on-screen and sighs.

"I'm sorry everyone. Things have been rough." Tzuyu says to her viewers on the stream. Countless comments pop up, asking her what happened, as well as messages of support. Tzuyu smiles at them. People actually worried about her.

"Thank you." She smiles to herself.

She hears the front door and looks over her shoulder. Chaeyoung was probably home. "My roommate is here. I'll finish this game and greet her later."

Tzuyu keeps playing, then hears Chaeyoung knocking. "Hey, Tzu! I'm coming in."

"W-wait, I'm streaming—" The door opens.

Chaeyoung is smiley and hyper, walking to her and getting into the shot as the camera records the stream. "I need to do something real quick, can you turn around?"

"I'm in the middle of the game." Tzuyu says as a fight breaks out and her character gets in trouble.

"It's quick!"

"Chaeng, I can't pause an online game." One of her teammates die.

"I know, I'm not a mom." Chaeyoung keeps bouncing and watching her play. "You done?"

"My team is losing."

"Which character are you?"

"Uh... Lux."

"This one?" Chaeyoung points.

"Chaeng!" Lux dies.

Tzuyu grunts and turns around. "You distracted me."

Chaeyoung feels a little guilty. "Sorry." She kneels and grabs one of Tzuyu's legs. "But I swear this will be quick!"

Tzuyu moves her knees back and forth, away from her grasp. "The game is not over yet."

"But you died."

"But I'll come back to life in— there, I'm alive again." Tzuyu turns the chair back to the computer. "We lost the battle, not the war."

Chaeyoung sits on the floor and huffs. "Fine." She waits with her hands on her cheeks.

Tzuyu apologizes to her viewers. "Sorry about that."

Ten minutes later, Tzuyu turns back around. "There, I'm done."

Chaeyoung beams at her. "Did you win?"

"Yes." Tzuyu smiles, turning off her stream. "Everything is possible with teamwork."

Chaeyoung grins too. "Can you please let me measure you now?"

"Measure me?"

Chaeyoung takes her by the knee and measures the height and width of her stumps. "Just stay still."

Tzuyu knows what she's doing and looks down at her. "Chaeng..."

"No, don't say anything. I had the best idea." She looks up. "And the funds for it. This will work."

Tzuyu decides that self-pity won't help anyone and stays quiet, letting Chaeyoung do her thing. As soon as she's done, Chaeyoung gets up. "Done."

Tzuyu gives her a tiny smile. "Thank you, Chaeng."

"You'll thank me, alright." Chaeyoung sounds really excited for this. "Have you eaten?" She says without thinking, then freezes when she realizes that they don't actually have any more blood stored. "...Shit, you need to eat."

Tzuyu shakes her head. "I can endure it. I've heard of vampires who went weeks without—"

“Hm.” Chaeyoung bites her lower lip.

"Chaeng?" Tzuyu frowns at the look on her face.

"Say... how many bites does it take for someone to turn?" The question is anything but innocent and Tzuyu widens her eyes.

"I am not feeding off of you for a month." Tzuyu shuts the idea down immediately.

"How many, though?"

"It's not about the number of bites, it's more about how much blood it's taken." Tzuyu says slowly. "If a vampire takes too much and the person dies in the process, they turn."

Chaeyoung hums, sitting on the bed. "So one bite could do the trick."

Tzuyu doesn't like this. It finally hits her that Chaeyoung wasn't worried about turning.

She wanted to turn.

"What are you saying?" Tzuyu doesn't want to believe what she was hearing.

"I was just thinking... how much stronger vampires are. I could do so much more in the fight if..."

"Stop it." Tzuyu pushes her chair, rolling near Chaeyoung. "You do not want to be a vampire. You're a doctor, Chaeng. You have a life, friends, people to save. You can't do this if you're unable to go out in the sun anymore, or if you have to hunt to survive every damn night."

"I could become a Golden." Chaeyoung mumbles.

"You're not seriously considering this." Tzuyu breathes out, incredulous. "You can't gamble with your life like this, Chaeng."

"If a Golden bites me, then—"

"This isn't a joke, Chaeyoung!" Tzuyu yells. She's never been this mad.

Chaeyoung flinches at the loudness, unable to meet Tzuyu's gaze. She knew how much Tzuyu hated her existence, but here she was, asking her to turn her into a vampire. Way to go, Chaeyoung.

"I just feel so useless..." The doctor speaks quietly, sounding defeated. She takes a deep breath, pouring all of her feelings out. "I'm so terrified of losing everyone. You're right, I'm a doctor. I save lives. And I want to keep doing it. But what good am I if I can't save yours as well?"

Tzuyu smiles weakly. "You can't save the dead, Chaeng." Before Chaeyoung can protest, Tzuyu puts a hand on her leg. "But... you did save me. When you found me back then at that alley, and brought me home. When you took care of me, laughed with me, gave me a reason to go on. You saved me when I had given up. So many times."

"And now, for the first time since I lost my bondmate, I want to live." Tzuyu puts a hand to her chest. "I want to live... for you."

Chaeyoung feels her cheeks getting wet and rubs the tears. She smiles. "I think... your bondmate would want you to live, too."

Tzuyu looks away with a soft smile. "I... think so."

"What was her name?" Chaeyoung asks softly.

"Elkie." The name alone feels so fragile on her tongue. "The two days we spent together were... really fulfilling."

"How do Silvers find bondmates, Tzu?" Chaeyoung is curious.

"We can go years without one, until we see them and just... know. I'm not sure humans can understand this concept very well." Tzuyu tries to explain. "Bondmates are soulmates. You're bound to find each other eventually. Seeing Elkie, was like seeing color for the first time."

"Momo and Sana knew they were soulmates even when they were human." Tzuyu continues. "Maybe it's destiny that they were turned together."

Chaeyoung can't help but to get emotional at how tragically romantic it all is. "Can you find another bondmate if you... lose yours?"

Tzuyu closes her eyes. "Most Silvers lose their will to go on once their bondmates pass away. The pain we feel is just... something I cannot describe." Elkie's face comes to mind and she shivers. "I wouldn't wish it on anyone."

Chaeyoung feels a chill. It must be horrible.

"I haven't heard of any Silvers who lived long enough to find another bondmate. Maybe it can happen." Tzuyu shrugs.

Chaeyoung thinks to herself. "Maybe it's possible. I don't really believe in it myself, but... reincarnation might be a thing, right?"

Tzuyu looks at her.

She takes a moment to truly look at the girl in front of her. She has no idea why Chaeyoung found her that night. Maybe it was a coincidence. Maybe it was something bigger that Tzuyu had blinded herself to for all this time.

"I hope it is." Tzuyu says in a whisper.

Chaeyoung doesn't really understand vampires and souls, but she does understand how hearts work. And hers was beating strongly now. "Maybe souls can meet again if both parties are willing." Chaeyoung leans forward a bit. "Just... a feeling I get."

Tzuyu closes her eyes. Their foreheads touch and Tzuyu hears Chaeyoung breathing. It's such a soothing sound. The chaos in her heart settles for the first time since Elkie died.

If Chaeyoung was a Silver, maybe Tzuyu could be sure. Humans had no law for love.

It was confusing and wonderful.

\--

Dahyun falls on her back again. It hurts.

"Get up." Sana says, dodging from Mina's attack from behind. She kicks Mina's legs, making her fall as well. "You too. Again."

"Ok, this is useless." Mina says, spitting grass. "We can't beat you, we need directions!”

"You're not learning with your mistakes." Sana says, calmly. "If you can't beat me in strength, then come up with a strategy."

"You need to help us come up with something, you asshole!" Mina is really done and tired.

"You need to use your brains." Sana sits on her rock.

"Ugh, you're impossible!" Mina turns her back on her. "I'm going home."

"Not until one of you get a hit on me." Sana says. "Come on, again."

"No."

"Again, Mina."

"No!"

"You're not listening—"

"UGH." Dahyun grunts loudly. "Can you two SHUT UP??"

Sana and Mina stop arguing to look at Dahyun with wide eyes. She sounds pissed. "I get it, you've known each other for a THOUSAND fucking years! You're best friends! You argue and make up! But I'm TIRED of hearing you banter while I get my ASS KICKED."

Her eyes finally glow.

"So just..." Dahyun bends one leg. "SHUT." She leans forward. "UP!" And kicks the grass as she sprints.

Mina doesn't even see her.

Sana has no idea what hit her.

The moment she blinks, Dahyun is on top of her, huffing with golden eyes and grass all over them.

The silence cuts through them like hot knife and Dahyun finally calms down when she realizes where she is and what she did.

"Oh, shit." She gets up, stumbling back. "I'm sorry—!"

"Speed." Sana opens a wide smile. "That's why you trip on yourself so much, it's your speed!"

Mina walks to them with her mouth hanging open. "What just happened?"

Sana is up in seconds, smiling like an idiot. "Dahyun, you need to run."

"Oh, come on, not a hundred laps again—"

"No, I mean _really_ run. Without holding yourself back. Run on this open field."

"Uh... okay?" Dahyun looks awkwardly to the side. "Like, just run without direction?"

"Let's race. You, me and Mina. To those trees all the way there." Sana gets in position. "The winner gets to slap my face."

Mina is suddenly very competitive. "Oh, you're on."

The three get on their marks. Sana turns to Dahyun. "Just let yourself go. No one is here watching you, you don't have to be careful with anything. Let your legs do the work and run without thinking."

Dahyun gives her a shaky nod.

"Set... go!" Sana says and they sprint.

Mina and Sana are incredibly fast. Dahyun tries to do what she did earlier, but she's too self-conscious and gets behind. Sana is way in front of Mina already. The power of a Silver.

Dahyun closes her eyes, Sana's words looping in her head. "Let yourself go, let yourself go..."

Ever since she turned, Dahyun has held herself back. Too afraid to hurt others, too afraid of not being in control of this new body. Too afraid of herself.

But now, she had to accept it. She wasn't human anymore.

She had to use her abilities to help people. "Let yourself GO!"

Dahyun feels a surge of power and her eyes glow strongly. She can see better now. She stops thinking for once.

Mina feels the wind and her eyes can barely keep up with Dahyun dashing past her.

Sana smiles, speeds up, but it's useless against that Goldie.

Dahyun wins.

The only problem is that she doesn't know how to stop. "Ah, shit—" She braces herself and crashes into the trees, taking a huge tree down with her. That's what it takes for her to stop.

Her feet feel like they're on fire. She hears Sana laughing in the distance and groans.

Mina and Sana finally find her buried under leaves and branches.

"Help..." Dahyun waves weakly at them. Sana grabs her hand and pulls her out with a smile.

"We found what makes you special. Good job, Goldi-- Dahyun."

Dahyun laughs awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head. "Hehe."

Mina smiles, hands on her hips. "A speed like that will be useful in a fight. You just need to control in better."

"I guess I know what you're focusing on the next time we train." Sana pats her back.

Dahyun looks at the tree. "Yeah, I can't be the cause of deforestation."

"You earned your leave for tonight. Good job, students." Sana sounds smug and Mina smirks.

"Not so fast. Dahyun won."

Sana flinches. "I was hoping you'd forget that."

"Not in a million years."

"Fine." Sana sighs, offering her face. "Go on. Make it count."

Dahyun stares at her awkwardly, then at Mina, who is clearly very excited to see it. "A-alright, here I go."

"Don't hold back." Mina says and Sana grunts, closing her eyes.

Dahyun brings her hand back, then slaps her as strongly as she can.

Sana doesn't move. "Come on, do it."

"I just did..." Dahyun says.

Sana opens her eyes. "Huh?"

Mina feels disappointed. "Maybe we should focus on your speed, not your strength."

Dahyun steps back. "Can I go home now?"

Sana is very confused. "But... you gotta slap me first. Hey, where are you going? Guys?"

\--

"Well, don't you look like shit." Seungyeon's first words when Jeongyeon walks into her hospital room are harsh, but playful. Despite her condition, that woman still managed to play around.

Jeongyeon can't help a chuckle. "No wonder you were dad's favorite. Always annoying."

"I might've been dad's favorite, but mom spoiled you rotten." Seungyeon grins, watching her sister sitting beside her.

"I had to be someone's favorite." Jeongyeon shoots back.

"You were always my favorite sister, if that counts for something."

"I'm your only sister, jackass."

"Guilty as charged." Seungyeon winces when she tries to lift her arm up. The pain was gone, but she missed being able to move her fingers. "Tell me why you're cranky."

"I'm always cranky."

"You're extra cranky today."

Jeongyeon looks away. Her mind was still chaotic.

She hadn't told her sister anything. Jeongyeon didn't trust herself to relay the words in a way that wouldn't make her angrier than she already was. Just thinking about everything that happened made her heart ache and her blood boil.

She knows why she's so conflicted, too.

"I'm mad because you were right. The world isn't black and white." Jeongyeon says. She feels tired. "I hate it when you're right."

Seungyeon frowns slightly, but decides to let her sister talk. She's never been good at sharing her feelings. "You found a gray area, huh."

"It was bound to happen. I knew that." Jeongyeon crosses her arms. "But I was hoping it never came to this. Morals, ethics. What's good and bad when it comes to vampires?" Seungyeon just waits. "Are hunters even just?" Jeongyeon breathes out. "I can't even tell anymore."

"Something really big must've happened to make you doubt yourself like this." Seungyeon says.

"Yeah." She shakes her head and what comes next hurts to say. "Seung... what happens if living for revenge isn't enough anymore?"

That hits both girls deep. "God, what happened, Jeong?"

 _Everything_ , Jeongyeon wants to say. Wants to tell her that they've been chasing the wrong vamp their whole lives, and the one who really murdered their parents couldn't hurt a fly if she was asked.

It sounds like a joke when she thinks about saying it out loud.

"I might be going crazy." Jeongyeon settles for insanity. Maybe Nayeon had a point. Living like a lunatic didn't sound so bad.

"Well," Seungyeon has no idea what happened, but it sounds like something her sister needed to sort out by herself. "I'll be here for you, regardless."

Jeongyeon looks at her with a weak smile. "Thanks." She rubs her face. "I heard you're being discharged soon."

"My recovery is going well. I should be out of here in a couple of days."

Despite everything, this makes Jeongyeon genuinely happy. "I'm glad. I miss you."

"Well, I'll be confined to a desk when I return, so you're stuck with me now." Seungyeon smiles back and it's warm and filled with love.

"Oh no." Jeongyeon doesn't even try to sound upset. "Bad puns the whole day?"

"The whole day."

"I'll ask to move desks."

"Pfft."

Jeongyeon checks her watch and sighs, getting up. "I have to go take care of a stupid case. Sorry for the brief visit."

"Don't worry." Seungyeon softens her gaze. "Will you be ok?"

Jeongyeon hums. "We'll see." When her sister stares, she waves. "I'm too tough to break, relax."

"Jeong." Seungyeon calls before she leaves. "I learned to deal with gray areas by ignoring the world and trusting my heart. Try it, sometime."

Jeongyeon was afraid her heart wasn't even beating anymore. But she just nods. "I'll... do my best."

She leaves the room, then.

\--

Getting to the police station, Jeongyeon puts her hunter face and asks for an update on the situation.

"She hasn't spoken yet and no one came looking for her." Special Officer Eunha talks as they walk. "I believe she's just another stray girl who lost herself when she turned."

"Maybe." Jeongyeon looks at the vampire's file. Nothing. "She said that what she did wasn't her fault. This bugs me."

"Me too." Eunha nods. "Will you talk to her before we're forced to resort to other methods?"

Jeongyeon's stomach churns for the first time at these words. "Yes."

Finally, the two arrive at the cell were the Golden was being kept. "I'll take it from here. Thanks, Eunha."

Eunha salutes and turns, leaving. Jeongyeon takes a deep breath, turns serious, and slams the door open. The girl inside is startled.

Jeongyeon speaks. "Alright."

She grabs a chair and sits in front of the vampire, then takes her time to simply stare at the girl and analyze her body language.

The vampire looks meek and scared. Shoulders tense, making herself as small as she could, avoiding Jeongyeon's gaze. She was hiding something.

For the first time, with everything that happened and Seungyeon's words ringing in her head, Jeongyeon drops the threats. _Gray areas, huh._

"I'm Yoo Jeongyeon. Nice to meet you." She offers a hand.

The vampire looks up, shocked. Slowly, she shakes her hand.

Jeongyeon has never shook hands with a vampire before. "What's your name?"

The girl doesn't say anything, retreating her arm and looking away again. Jeongyeon leans back. "I can't just call you Cat-napper forever, can I?" Her voice is low. "Can I just know your name?"

"...Sei." It's almost a whisper.

"Sei?" Jeongyeon feels like that's just a nickname, but decides to go with it. "Alright, Sei. Thank you for trusting me."

"I don't." Sei mutters.

"I know." Jeongyeon matches her tone. "If I were you, I wouldn't trust me, either."

The weird sentence makes Sei look back up to her. Jeongyeon leans forward. "I mean, I'm a hunter. You've probably heard stories about what happens to vampires who are caught by hunters."

Sei nods, slowly.

"They're pretty scary. But being a vampire is probably scarier. Isn't it?" Jeongyeon asks.

"...Yes." Sei speaks again. "I didn't ask for this."

For years Jeongyeon ignored the human part of vampires, only focusing on the monster. Now, being through what she's been through, it's easier to remember that every vampire was a person once.

"...I know you didn't." Jeongyeon says. She sits up straight. "When I caught you, you said that what you did wasn't your fault. Remember that?" Sei nods. "What did you mean by that?"

The silence goes on for a while, then Sei bites her lower lip, shaking her head.

Jeongyeon notices that her shoulders were trembling. Whatever she was hiding, was terrifying this girl. Maybe it's not that she didn't want to speak.

Maybe she just couldn't.

Jeongyeon leans closer. "If I get you a pen and a paper, can you write it down?"

Sei nods.

Bingo.

"I'll be right back." Jeongyeon gets up and leaves the room. A moment later, she comes back with the pen and paper. Sei takes it. "Write the answers down, if you can." Jeongyeon says. "Did someone order you to kill those cats?"

Sei writes, hand trembling.

_'Yes.'_

"Are you part of a coven?" Jeongyeon asks again.

_'Yes.'_

"Is this person your coven leader?"

_'Yes.'_

"And you're scared she'll find you if you speak." Jeongyeon concludes.

Sei nods. She looks like she's about to cry.

This vampire didn't need torture, she needed protection.

Jeongyeon thinks a little longer. "Is there any information about her that you can give us?"

Sei writes again.

_'A location. I've seen her going there more than once. Maybe you can find her.'_

Well, that was a lot more useful than Jeongyeon was expecting. "Please, do."

Sei writes down the address and rips the piece of paper with it, giving it to Jeongyeon.

Jeongyeon puts it in the pocket of her long coat. "Thank you, Sei." And then, she says something she never expected to say to a vampire. "We'll find her and keep you safe."

Something about seeing a vampire break down in relief in front of her makes Jeongyeon's world turn upside down. "Thank you... so much..." Sei sobs in her hands.

Jeongyeon feels an urge to do something. A gesture, maybe say words of comfort. But she's not good at it.

She leaves the room feeling a lot less shitty than she expected to feel by the end of the meeting. "She gave me some info. Keep her here until I'm done investigating."

Eunha nods. "Yes, ma'am."

Jeongyeon goes to her office and searches for the address on the piece of paper. She frowns when she checks the place. It was in the middle of nowhere; an abandoned building that had been scheduled for demolition months ago. It was never carried through, so the building was still standing there.

Her gut was telling her that she should check it out.

"I'll be back later." Jeongyeon says, popping her head into her boss's office.

"Hey, where are you going?" Mr. Moon asks, but she's already gone.

Jeongyeon asks for a taxi. "Can you drop me off near here? I'll walk the rest of the way."

The gun in her pocket, heavy.

They arrive twenty minutes later and Jeongyeon thanks the driver. She walks the rest of the way. The atmosphere is ominous, and she probably shouldn't have come alone, but she needed to check this place out. It was almost calling to her, in a way.

She sees the building. Jeongyeon takes the stake gun out of her pocket and walks slowly, ready to shoot anything at the slight movement. Her heart is racing as she approaches it.

Finally, she reaches the entrance and stops. What she sees makes her skin crawl.

"What the..." She whispers to herself, eyes roaming the place. It was a big, empty salon with huge columns that reached the tall ceilings. Except that every single wall was covered with what looked like symbols of some sort. It looked like someone's vivid nightmare.

Jeongyeon doesn't want to give a single step inside the place. She feels all the hairs in her body stand up. She steps back, ready to get the fuck out of there when her foot hits something. She looks down and sees a bucket and a brush.

The brush is still wet.

Someone was just here. Or still is.

Jeongyeon has never been so terrified in her life.

She turns around and runs. Her body was ringing every possible alarm, warning her that if she stays there, she will die.

As she runs back, she hears the grass rustling behind her.

She can't look back. She needs to leave. She needs to leave.

This place wasn't meant for her. It's not meant for her.

Not her. Not alone. Not yet.

Jeongyeon can almost hear these words in her head.

_Not her. Not alone. Not yet._

The noise gets louder.

"Leave me alone!" Jeongyeon yells. She wants to sob. The fear invades her bones and her veins, crawling its way into her heart. It's so cold.

_Not her. Not alone. Not yet._

"I'll bring her here!" The words burst from Jeongyeon's mouth in a desperate attempt to survive.

Finally, the noise stops. Whatever was following her disappears as Jeongyeon reaches the road, where cars and people exist, and she's no longer alone.

Jeongyeon stops and breathes heavily, coughing as she recovers from the scariest experience of her life.

It takes her a long time to get her bearings and stop panicking. Her head hurts. She wants to be with someone she loves. She wants Seungyeon's hug.

She almost died.

After clearing her mind, Jeongyeon remembers the words she said. "Who... am I supposed to bring here...?"

And it clicks. She knows who she's supposed to bring here.

Whoever whispered in her mind had a clear goal -- Jeongyeon can't be alone, and it's still not the time. There was only one group of people that made sense in her head.

A lunatic with a goal and her friends.

This event wasn't like anything Jeongyeon had experienced before. She's been through a lot in her days as a hunter, but this whole situation couldn't be beaten with logic. It was fear. Raw emotion. Insanity.

"Fuck me." Jeongyeon breathes out, and grabs her phone.

She texts the only number she can, hating everything about it, but without another choice. The fear from before still ingrained in her veins.

_'Fine. I'm in. I'll help you kill Jihyo.'_

On the other side, Mina receives the text. She smiles.

\--

It's safe to say that Momo has never felt more miserable in her entire immortal existence.

She was used to being next to Jihyo, but she endured it, knowing that at some point she'd be allowed to hug Sana for a bit. Kiss her, if she was lucky.

But not anymore.

Sana went out every night with no explanation. She didn't want to be in Jihyo's presence anymore, that was clear. And Jihyo didn't seem to care for Sana's whereabouts either. But it was agonizing to be kept in the dark like this.

Momo wanted to see her before she left, at least.

Often, when Jihyo was just sitting at her desk taking care of e-mails, Momo considered ripping off her head. Even if she was something as mysterious as a half-Golden, no one could survive that. But Jihyo would probably be faster and kill Momo first. She's seen it happen.

All Momo could do was trust Sana. She probably had a plan. Maybe she was visiting that Nayeon girl and they were coming up with a scheme to kill Jihyo. Momo trusted Sana to save her.

Her own knight in shining armor.

Thoughts like these kept Momo relatively sane.

"Momo." Jihyo's voice startles her.

"Yes." Momo can't bring herself to be lively around her.

Jihyo keeps quiet, her one silver eye staring at her computer with a frown. Momo watches her and waits. Jihyo opens her mouth, then closes it. She was acting weird.

She does it two more times, and Momo doesn't understand what's going on. It's like Jihyo wants to speak, but the words just don't come out. Like something was holding her back.

A minute passes and Jihyo finally blinks, tearing her eye away from the screen. "Momo." She repeats. "Come here."

Momo doesn't want to. She wants to tell her to fuck off, wants to kill her, wants to run away and just be with the love of her life.

But she had to trust that Sana was doing the right thing.

Momo walks to Jihyo. "What is it?"

Jihyo reaches up and yanks Momo down by the lapels of her suit, forcing her to be eye-level with her. Momo holds herself up by grabbing onto the back of Jihyo's chair. They're too close now, and Momo just waits for it -- a forceful kiss, a hungry request, anything.

But that's not what she gets.

"You want to kill me, don't you?" Jihyo leans forward, whispering into her ear.

Momo's world freezes. An abysmal fear crawls up from inside and she can't speak. Did Jihyo read her mind? Was she that obvious?

 _I fucked up._ Momo thinks.

"..." Momo wants to deny it, pretend that she's happy with her life right now. She would even tell Jihyo that she doesn't love Sana anymore if that's what she wanted. She was so scared.

"I know." Jihyo leans back, staring at her. "I can feel how much you hate me. But don't worry," Jihyo lets go of Momo's suit and bringing one hand up to caress her cheek. "This too shall pass."

Momo is shaking to the core.

"All you have to do," Jihyo says. "Is look into my eyes."

And right then, Momo feels like she'll lose something.

\--

"Do you have any idea what made her change her mind?" Nayeon asks while Mina helps her stretch.

"I don't know. But I told you she'd come around." Mina replies, cheerfully.

Nayeon had added Jeongyeon to the group chat recently. She would never talk to them, but Mina was happy.

"Jeongyeon is pretty busy, but I think we should meet with her. You know, without the others." Mina suggests, then ponders. "Actually, maybe I shouldn't be there, either."

"So you want your ex-girlfriend and your current girlfriend to talk to each other." Nayeon teases.

Mina stops. "We're girlfriends?"

Nayeon blinks. "Aren't we?" She looks at Mina over her shoulder. "Did I read this wrong? Because if I did, I'll just go bury my head in the ground forever and you'll have to debut solo."

Mina shoves her. "No! I just— we never really labeled it."

Nayeon turns around fully to face Mina, and the vampire sits on the floor with her. "Well... do you want to be?"

Mina feels like this is too good to be happening. Life's never been kind to her when it came to love, so she had no idea what to do now. "...Very much."

Nayeon wonders if Mina knows just how much she loves her. She could tell her now, if she wanted to. But it felt too soon.

Maybe a little later. Before the fight.

"Ok. Yeah, that's sweet." Nayeon stumbles on her words and Mina only laughs.

"Yeah. Pretty sweet."

Their dance teacher arrives, and the two of them have to come down from cloud nine. They still had to focus on their debut showcase, after all.

10 days for debut. 27 days for a fight that might kill them.

At least they'll have one song out before facing the end of the world.

\--

"You need to start slowing down when you spot your target." Sana says from the top of her rock.

Dahyun gets up, her arm hurting from hitting the wall so many times. "Right. Yeah, just... need to find the timing."

"Keep practicing." Sana turns around. "Mina, your turn."

Mina nods and gets in position.

"Go!" Sana yells and Mina sprints towards the wall.

She's not nearly as fast as Dahyun, but her legs are in total control, unlike the younger Goldie. Mina reaches the wall and kicks it, boosting her body on the opposite direction.

"Good." Sana says. "Your speed isn't your most valuable asset, but you can be pretty agile when you have to."

Mina walks towards them again. "I think I should focus on dexterity. I'm not strong enough to fight her head on, but maybe I can dodge her attacks."

Sana nods. "Alright, let's spar." She comes down from her rock with a smirk. "Dahyun, you keep trying to control your momentum. Once you learn how to slow down, we can move on."

"Yes, ma'am!" Dahyun salutes and resumes her training.

Sana turns to Mina. "I really love this Goldie."

"You love anything that treats you like royalty." Mina gets in position, hands in front, one leg behind.

"That's not true." Sana mirrors her. "You treated me like royalty and I never loved you."

It stings.

"You're such a bitch." Mina smirks, ready to kick her ass. "Come on."

Sana moves first and Mina dodges easily. She's always used this move when they trained together, and Mina is glad she never forgot. Sana turns her elbow trying to hit, and Mina jumps back. Sana kicks. Mina moves away.

"That was way harder when you had two arms." Mina bites.

As if on cue, Sana twists her body in an ungodly manner, bringing one foot up. It hits Mina in the back of her head, making her fall face first on the grass.

Sana looks at her from above. "I don't need arms to beat you, darling."

Mina spits grass, looking up angrily.

The two have a staring contest for about three seconds before they hear something crashing behind them with a dull sound.

"Ouch." Dahyun moans in the distance.

Sana chuckles and offers Mina her hand. "Come on, let's go again."

Mina hesitates, but takes it anyway.

They move with each other and Sana eventually overwhelms Mina. The amount of times she has to spit out grass was annoying her.

"I don't get it, your dodges are so stiff." Sana says, one hand on her hip. "You're a dancer, aren't you? Dance with me."

"...Oh." It made sense.

The moment Sana said that, it was like a switch was turned on inside Mina's brain.

Of course. Fighting was like dancing.

Sana moves again and Mina's foot slides to the side. She brings a hand up and before Sana can kick her, she spins away. Like a ballerina.

The movement is so sudden that it catches Sana off-guard. Mina takes this chance to boost herself towards her and spin again, grabbing her one arm. With a swift kick to her knee, Mina makes Sana fall, her arm twisted behind her.

Mina looks at her from above. "Now who's royalty?"

Sana is stunned into silence, then breaks into a laughing fit. Mina raises an eyebrow and lets her go. "Did you break?"

Sana recovers with a hand on her stomach. "That was ridiculous!"

"Hey—!"

"But so, so genius." Her eyes are soft when she looks at her. "Good job, Minari."

The gentle nickname shakes Mina's little world and she looks away, trying to tuck away her smile. "...Thanks."

Sana gets up, but before she can speak, Dahyun shouts. "I did it!! I managed to slow down!!"

Mina and Sana look at her and the girl is waving. "Guys, did you see it??"

"Do it again!" Sana yells back and Dahyun looks disappointed, but walks all the way back.

Mina stands beside Sana as they watch her. She speaks. "Nayeon is my girlfriend now."

Sana blinks, then smiles without looking. "Are you happy?"

"Yes."

"Good. You deserve it."

Mina smiles. Sana ruffles her hair. Dahyun runs and finally controls her speed. Sana praises her.

Training is over for the night. They all say goodbye to each other, proud of their accomplishments.

9 days for debut. 26 days for a fight that might kill them.

\--

Chaeyoung receives the news in the morning. "Dr. Son? Your prosthetics have been approved." The nurse knocks on her door to deliver the news.

"Really??" Chaeyoung beams. "Thank you so much!"

"You can pick them up tomorrow."

She can't wait for Tzuyu to see them.

\--

Jeongyeon doesn't know what to feel when she goes to the hospital to pick her sister up. On one hand, seeing Seungyeon bound to a wheelchair is jarring, but on the other, she has her sister back.

"You're not going to cry, are you?" Seungyeon teases.

"Shut up." Jeongyeon smiles.

\--

"Noodle, come here. I need to talk to you." Dahyun grabs the cat and forces him to sit in front of her. "Alright, you need to stop getting close to that window. Bad things happen to cats who run away. So you have to _promise_ me not to run again. Promise?"

Noodle meows.

\--

Nayeon writes at night when her head is less chaotic.

_'I'm not sure I will actually survive to tell the rest of this story. I'm dragging people down with me because of a gut feeling that doesn't seem to pass. So, I hope someone finds this journal in the future._

_Vampires are people. Some people are monsters. I believe that the world can corrupt someone enough to turn them into creatures they never intended to be. No one is born evil. I refuse to believe that. Can I save people who have been corrupted by the world? I don't know._

_This problem we're facing is only one amidst countless others. 400 years is nothing compared to how long the Earth has been around. Everything we do will vanish with time. But I want to believe I made a difference. I hope the world can forgive my selfishness._

_And in case I never get to tell you that in person, I'm writing it down. Whoever finds this journal, please let her know if I don't make it. I love you, Mina. I believe I haven't been turned into a vampire yet because I'm supposed to love you. I'm glad I met you.'_

Nayeon closes the journal with a sigh. She leans back on her chair, looks at the ceiling. It's so quiet.

She closes her eyes and searches for the thing inside her. A voice.

_Love. The most powerful weapon._

5 days for debut. 22 days for a fight that might kill them.

\--

The club is as loud as ever when Tzuyu walks in.

Her faulty legs hurt the shit out of her, but she had to force herself to leave home. She refused to bite Chaeyoung, and her stomach was hurting too much from hunger.

She makes her way to the bar and sits, sighing in relief.

It takes a while, but the bartender eventually approaches her. "You're back."

Tzuyu nods, hands shaking. The smell of blood was everywhere in that club. "Can I get something big?" Her voice trembles.

Hyolyn smiles, sympathetically. "Coming right up."

Once her big cup arrives, Tzuyu wastes no time drinking it all. Her body recharges and the satisfaction that runs through her makes her nearly moan. She hates how good drinking human blood feels, but that's her life.

Hyolyn chuckles when she puts the cup down. "Atta, girl."

"Sorry." Tzuyu looks down, embarrassed.

Hyolyn reaches out to clean the corner of her mouth with a napkin. "Missed a spot."

"T-thanks."

Hyolyn takes the cup back. "One more?"

Tzuyu thinks about it for a moment. "Yes, please."

"Good. Let's chat while you drink."

Tzuyu doesn't know why Hyolyn would waste her precious time talking to her, but she can't deny the request when the woman places another big cup in front of her.

"Thank you for the blood bags you brought the other night, by the way." Hyolyn says, watching her drink. Tzuyu nods. "Can I ask where you got them?"

Tzuyu hesitates, but lying to Hyolyn has never done anyone any good. "The human who lives with me brought them to feed me."

"I see. Why did you decide to bring them here, then?"

"I... didn't plan on coming back that night." She's ashamed of it.

There's something in Hyolyn's eyes – it's not pity, just understanding. She's probably seen many of her costumers vanish through the years. "Did that hunter convince you to go back?"

Tzuyu shakes her head. "She hates me. Someone else did."

Hyolyn hums. "Got it."

Tzuyu drinks a bit more, then musters the courage to look up at the bartender. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything, dear."

"What do you do with all the stories people tell you?"

Hyolyn thinks for a bit. "Well, if they're harmless, I share them with others, sometimes."

"Will you share mine?" Tzuyu caresses the glass with a thumb.

"If you tell me not to, I won't."

A new song starts playing in the background. Tzuyu knew this one. "No, it's ok. Someone might need it."

Hyolyn nods. "It always happens."

"Can you... tell me someone's story?"

There's amusement in Hyolyn's eyes. She looks around the bar to see if she's needed somewhere, but other bartenders have it covered. She leans on the counter. "I think I can spare a few minutes."

Tzuyu settles down to listen.

"This is the story of a girl who wanted to die."

_"It's hard to define life when all you know is your own. Every day, we pass by people on the streets who have an entire separate existence from us. Sadness, joy, anger, love. We've all felt those. But sometimes, these feelings overwhelm us so much that we look for a way out._

_There was this girl I met once. This was before I even opened this club. She bumped into me, running. Didn't even apologize and kept going. Back then, I wasn't one to care for others too much. But this girl looked so distressed that I couldn't help but to worry._

_I tried to search for the reason she was running so much. Was someone after her? Did she see something horrible? But there was nothing near us. It was night, and the streets were empty. I was so bugged by it that I turned around and ran too. I wanted to talk to her._

_Eventually, I found her. She was crouched in an alley, hands on her head, trembling so much. Her voice was weak, and she sobbed. Her wrists were red. It was such a jarring sight. I approached her carefully and placed a hand on her shoulder. She jolted, looking at me._

_I introduced myself as the woman she had bumped into earlier. Told her I became worried and decided to come check on her. The girl looked at me like I was a ghost. Then, she told me something I will never forget._

_'Why would you worry about a monster?'_

_I was speechless for a moment, then sat on the cold floor with her. Being eye-level with this girl changed my perspective of things. I asked her,_

_‘What do you mean by that? I see no monsters here. Only a scared girl who could use a friend.’_

_She didn't see things that way. She told me she was a monster. She'd done terrible things and she would keep doing them. No reason, no explanation. I was trying to understand what had happened, but she just kept spitting words of hate towards herself. Then, she said she ran because she was going to die._

_I asked her if someone was trying to kill her. She almost laughed, then, which surprised me. She said,_

_‘Yes. I'm the one trying to kill myself.’_

_I had never dealt with a situation like that before, so I was speechless. I asked her,_

_‘Why?’_

_She said,_

_'Because I'm tired.'”_

Tzuyu looked down. She understood that feeling well. "What happened to her?"

Hyolyn smiled.

_"Well, I talked to her a little more. Told her,_

_'Well, why don't you try telling your story to a complete stranger?'_

_She finally seemed to listen to me. And she told me._

_She said she lived a long life of sadness. Nothing had ever gone right for her. And every time she tried to end it, she couldn't. So she kept moving, living in slow-motion, waiting for the day something would happen and take her pain away. She sounded very ancient._

_Then that night, she just had it. She tried to kill herself at home, but her mother found out and scolded her. Grabbed her by the wrists and yelled at her, saying how ashamed she was of her own kid. The girl pushed her mother down and ran away from home to die on the street._

_But when she was finally outside, she stopped. She wasn't brave enough to die, she said. What was she going to do? Wait for a car to run her over? Jump from somewhere? She didn't want to do any of these things. So, she ran in pain. She was hurting so much, but she was scared._

_That's when she bumped into me. That's how we met. Because she was too scared to do anything, but she had already hurt her mother so much._

_'Is that why you think you're a monster?' I asked._

_She said,_

_‘Yes. I hurt others all the time, and they would be better off without me.'_

_I told her,_

_'That's not true. If you hadn't been around, I wouldn't have met you. I wouldn't have reached out and asked about your life. And you wouldn't have changed my world like this.’_

_She was shocked. No one had ever told her she'd made a positive impact in their lives."_

Tzuyu notices a shift in the story.

_"At the end of the day, we shared a meal at a rundown restaurant. I paid for her favorite burger and made stupid jokes. Told her that she could crash at my house if she didn't want to see her mom yet. And she did. We talked the whole night."_

"Where is the girl now?" Tzuyu asks, knowing where this was leading to.

"Now? She's running an underground club, working as a bartender, and sharing stories that might help others. Because sharing her story with a stranger one day helped her stay alive." Hyolyn softens her gaze.

Tzuyu feels a tear rolling down her cheek. She smiles. "Thank you for this."

"No problem." Hyolyn leans back, stretching her muscles. "I don't know your life story. But I know what it's like to feel all alone in the world. And if you ever do, come see me."

"Will do." Tzuyu finishes her drink and prepares to leave. But before that, she asks. "If you were the girl... who was the stranger who helped you that night?"

Hyolyn shrugs. "She never told me her name. We didn't really talk more after that night, either. But she wore a badass eyepatch."

Tzuyu freezes.

It couldn't be. Life just couldn't play with her to that extent.

She decides, for the sake of her sanity, to ignore that last remark. "I need to go."

"Here." Hyolyn throws her three blood bags. "On the house."

Tzuyu nods, still a bit shaken. "Thanks."

Tzuyu gets home after a slow walk back, holding the blood bags in one hand and supporting herself on the walls with another. She tries to stop thinking about the story.

And she does, when she opens the door and Chaeyoung nearly flies from the couch to hug her. "It's here!"

Tzuyu almost drops the bags, but hugs her back. "What's here?"

"Your new gift!" Chaeyoung leans back and sees the blood bags. "Where did you get these?"

"The nice lady at the club gave me some for free."

"Oh, that's nice of her. Anyway, sit! I gotta see if they fit."

Tzuyu puts the blood bags on the table and sits on the couch. Chaeyoung's excitement was contagious, and Tzuyu finds herself smiling too. "I've never seen you so giddy."

Chaeyoung drags a huge box from behind the curtains. "Trust me, you'll be happier than me when you see them."

She finally opens the box and takes them out. And Tzuyu widens her eyes at the sight. "You didn't."

Chaeyoung grins, proudly. "Tzuyu, meet your newest prosthetics. They're called Flex-Foot Cheetah blades. But you can name them how you want."

Tzuyu laughs in disbelief.

"Can I?" Chaeyoung asks and Tzuyu nods quickly. She removes the faulty legs, cleans Tzuyu's skin with water and soap, dries the stumps, and attaches the blades.

They fit perfectly.

Chaeyoung gets up, offering her hands. "Alright, try to stand, see how they feel."

Tzuyu holds Chaeyoung's hands and gets up. The blades bounce with the weight and Tzuyu laughs at the sensation. "They... don't hurt. They don't hurt at all."

Chaeyoung smiles. "Yeah?" She takes a step back, dragging Tzuyu with her. "Walk a little." She does; it feels amazing. "Do you think you can walk on your own?"

Tzuyu lets go of Chaeyoung's hands. She feels so perfectly balanced, like she hasn't in a long time. "Yeah. Chaeng, these are amazing. I feel... so confident."

The words hit Chaeyoung like a rock to her chest. "I'm so glad."

Dahyun gets home at that point and halts when she sees the scene in front of her. "What the hell?? Tzuyu, your legs!"

Tzuyu laughs. "My legs!"

Dahyun closes the door and walks to her with a stupid smile on her face. "That's some cyberpunk shit right here, that's so cool!"

Chaeyoung watches both girls with a soft gaze and a proud smile. "I figured these blades would boost your speed a lot. They can... you know. Help in the fight."

Tzuyu tests the bouncing. She forces her sleepy thigh muscles to work and jumps.

She hits her head on the ceiling.

"Tzu!" Chaeyoung and Dahyun say at the same time, kneeling to help her up.

But Tzuyu doesn't even feel the pain. She breaks into a laughing fit, so hard that her stomach hurts and tears run down her face. Dahyun and Chaeyoung exchange gazes. They've never heard her laugh.

"I love... I love this...!" Tzuyu says in between laughs. Her cheeks hurt from smiling. "I love you!" An explosion of emotion fills Tzuyu and she pulls both girls down for a hug, still laughing and crying. Chaeyoung laughs, burying her head on her neck. Dahyun does, too.

The three stay like this on the carpet, cuddled together with no intention to leave. Tzuyu is so tall and the two shorter girls fit perfectly against her.

Dahyun breaks the silence with a giggle. "Hey, Tzu. Does that make you the official Blade Runner?"

They laugh again.

\--

Nayeon is a bundle of nerves. "Everything will go wrong tomorrow. A zit will grow on my forehead tonight, the camera will zoom in on it and I'll turn into an internet joke and everyone will know me as ZIT GIRL."

"Nayeon," Mina tries not to lose it. "You need to calm down."

"How are you so calm??" Nayeon nearly spills her water all over the table. "We're debuting tomorrow and you're acting like it's just another sunny day!"

"It's the second time I'm debuting, remember?" Mina sips her cranberry juice. "Relax, you'll do just fine."

"My face is going to be on TV tomorrow and my peaceful days will be _over_." Nayeon continues, lost in her own world of doubts and delusions.

"You're overreacting." Mina says.

"Holy SHIT," Nayeon slaps her hands on the table, getting up. "I haven't practiced my autograph yet!"

"Don't do this!" Mina says, a hand on her chest out of habit. "I thought you saw something dangerous."

Nayeon sits back down, realizing that the entire restaurant was staring at her. She apologizes with a nervous smile and buries her head on her arms. "I'm a mess."

"Yes," Mina puts a comforting hand on her arm. "But you don't have to deal with it alone."

Nayeon lifts her head and sniffles. "Ok..."

"Now finish your plate, Jeongyeon doesn't like to wait." Nayeon nods, taking another bite of her food. They still had to meet with the hunter.

After lunch, Mina and Nayeon leave the restaurant. They have some time to kill before meeting Jeongyeon in a nearby café, so Nayeon holds Mina's hand and pulls her inside a bookstore to show her a few magazines.

Mina feels incredibly giddy inside. This was their first date.

Something Mina learns about Nayeon: she talks a lot when she's nervous. There's hardly a moment of silence between the two, and Mina is glad for it. She replies with mostly nods and hums, because she's too busy staring at the beautiful woman in front of her.

Her girlfriend.

"...and this concealer sucks, don't buy it. But this brand is very good, I've heard." Nayeon keeps talking, then stops, staring at Mina. "What?"

"Hm?"

"You're not paying attention to anything I'm saying, are you?"

Mina smiles dumbly. "I'm paying attention to you, yes."

Nayeon blushes at how genuinely lovestruck Mina looks right now and avoids her gaze. "You're such a sap."

"I can't be a sap with my girlfriend?" Mina smiles harder.

"N-no. I mean, you can." Nayeon puts the concealer back. "I can't believe you make me stutter."

Mina giggles and the sound is angelic. Nayeon wants to kiss her. But she also knows that if she does, she will tell her she loves her right there, and she can't do it right now. So she settles for holding Mina's hand again and dragging her out of the store, heart beating fast.

"This is nice." Mina says suddenly. Nayeon looks at her, questioning. "This date. I'd like to go on more dates with you."

Nayeon loves her. "Yeah? Don't worry, we will."

It sounds like a promise. Mina hopes she gets to keep it. "Many more?"

"As many as you want."

Mina wants to believe her. She wants to forget the impending doom hovering above their heads and pretend that this is her life now.

In times like these, Mina wants to ignore Jihyo and run away. She wants to finally be happy.

But when she thinks about Sana, she can't do it. For as much as she loves Nayeon, she can't abandon Sana. She can't live with the guilt. And she knows that Nayeon has a huge soft spot for her as well. So, Mina keeps moving forward, with her head held high and hope in her heart. Hope for a good future for all of them.

"It's time." Nayeon checks her phone. "Should we go?"

Mina snaps out of it and sighs. "Y-yeah."

Nayeon smirks. "Oh, now you're getting nervous."

"It's just— complicated." Mina is not looking forward to talk to Jeongyeon. "I think she still hates me."

"Well, let's find out."

\--

Jeongyeon is already waiting when they get there. Mina had let go of Nayeon's hand before walking into the café, and Nayeon understood.

Jeongyeon gestures for them to sit. "Hey."

"Hi." Mina says, awkwardly.

There is so much tension between them; Nayeon will have to intervene.

"Thank you for deciding to join, Jeongyeon." Nayeon starts with a peaceful smile. "I know how hard it must've been for you."

"It was." And what Jeongyeon says next surprises Mina. "I guess I just... realized that I'm not the only one affected by this whole thing."

Nayeon and Mina exchange gazes, rather shocked. Jeongyeon frowns, a bit of color on her cheeks. "What?"

"N-nothing! It's nice that you think so!" Nayeon says.

Mina nods, her chest full. Jeongyeon has been clouded by grief for so long. Maybe she's starting to change a little.

"Anyway, there's something I wanted to discuss with you." Jeongyeon interrupts the moment. She might've changed a bit, but she was still a hunter at heart. "I found a place. And I think that's where we need to go and fight Ji— Her."

Nayeon turns serious. "A place?"

Jeongyeon shows her the address on her phone. "Here. It's an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere. I had a lead and went there to check. Then someone... _something_ chased after me. I was so afraid, that on my panic I yelled that I would bring her there."

"Her?"

"You."

"Me?" Nayeon frowns.

"After that, the thing stopped chasing me. Like that's what it was waiting for me to say." Jeongyeon sighs. "I don't... I don't know _why_ I know that it's you they want. But I wasn't thinking when I said that. Out of instinct, I blurted it out. And while I ran, I could almost hear sentences in my head." Jeongyeon remembers them clearly. "Not me. Not alone. Not yet."

Mina is lost. "What does that even mea—"

"You're not the one who's supposed to be there. Not alone, and not yet." Nayeon says numbly, her gaze far away.

Jeongyeon waits for her to continue. She silently checks Nayeon's body language as the girl speaks.

"You're right. That's where we need to go to meet the Bitch." Nayeon nods, almost like she's speaking to herself. "All of us, when we're ready. She'll be there waiting." Then, Nayeon blinks. She shakes her head and looks up. Jeongyeon and Mina are staring intently at her and she blushes. "I m-mean, it makes sense, right?"

"Not really." Mina says.

"But if you think it does, then it's settled." Jeongyeon leans back, arms crossed.

The fact that Jeongyeon is agreeing with this insane conclusion makes Mina even more confused.

"Wow, I feel hot all of a sudden." Nayeon says, getting up. "I'll just go wash my face real quick."

Mina worries. "Want me to come with?"

"No, no, it's fine! I'll be back soon."

Mina and Jeongyeon are left alone and the silence is awkward again. Mina wants to say something. "So—"

"It wasn't her speaking." Jeongyeon says, turning to Mina. "Did you notice?"

"Huh?"

"Her body language and voice tone changed completely. She wasn't the one speaking."

This turns Mina's world upside down. "What are you talking about?"

"It happened before. Back at the doc's house, when she told me everything that happened. She changed her demeanor completely, to soothe me and everyone around her." Jeongyeon explains. "Pay attention next time."

Mina thinks back on all the times Nayeon acted strange. It always happened when she tried to relay Jihyo's plans to them, or when she had to lead a situation to bring everyone together.

She remembers Nayeon mentioning she had been through all of that before. "...I will." But something else bugged Mina. "And you just accepted what she told you as the truth? The Jeong I know would never believe something this nonsensical."

Jeongyeon looks down. "The fear I felt back at the building was something out of this world. There's no explanation for it. Why did I say I'd bring her there? How did I know it was Nayeon?" Jeongyeon plays with her spoon. "I have no idea. I just _know_." She chuckles lightly. "And Nayeon did say she's a lunatic with a goal. Maybe I was just caught up on the insanity."

Mina laughs too.

Jeongyeon stops. "Mina."

Mina looks up and their eyes meet. "Yes?"

The hunter softens her gaze. "If... if we're all wrong about this, and Nayeon is leading us to our deaths—"

"She's not—!"

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry." Jeongyeon finishes. Mina feels her heart breaking.

"...For what?" Mina forces her voice out.

"I don't hate you." Jeongyeon says. "I don't think I ever could."

Mina shakes her head. "...You have every right to, Jeong, I—"

"But I don't." She sighs. "I should. I really should, but I can't. And I'm sorry we weren't meant to be."

Mina could spend the entire day writing letters and singing songs about Yoo Jeongyeon. She could spend her life trying to atone for all the pain she's caused her.

But she didn't have to.

Because Jeongyeon would never stop loving her and Mina had always known that.

Nayeon returns to the table and stops when she sees both girls smiling. "...Should I wash my face a little more?"

"No need." Jeongyeon says. "I need to go, anyway. But before that, I have a request."

"Sure." Nayeon sits back down.

"I want to be the one to give the final blow."

Nayeon and Mina exchange gazes, then Nayeon looks back at the hunter. "I guess that's fair."

"You're still looking for revenge?" Mina asks out of concern.

"Even if she's not the one who murdered my parents, she's the one who gave the order. I'm not forgiving her for it."

Mina nods in understanding. "I get that. If I was as strong, I'd probably want to give the final blow, too."

Jeongyeon gets up, putting her long coat back on. "We can talk strategy soon. I've seen the building, I think I can assign a role for everyone."

"Thanks, Jeong."

"See you." Jeongyeon turns to leave, but Mina chases after her.

"Jeong!" She stops her and takes something from her pocket. "Here."

"What's this?"

"A VIP ticket. Our debut showcase is tomorrow." Mina looks down. "If you're not busy..."

Jeongyeon chuckles. "No promises."

Jeongyeon finally leaves and Mina stands there, still nervous like a teenage girl.

Nayeon walks up to her with a smile. "You invited her?"

"Yeah. She probably won't come, though." Mina chuckles.

"Hmm. Maybe." Nayeon puts her sunglasses back on. "Don't forget to invite the rest."

"Even her?" Mina whines as they leave the café.

"Even her."

"But I don't want to."

"Well, if you won't invite Sana, then I'll have to call her—"

"Fine, fine!" Mina takes Nayeon's hand again. "I won't forget."

Nayeon laughs loudly. "I should make you jealous more often."

\--

Mina really doesn't want to invite her.

Especially now that Sana is kicking her ass on their nightly training session.

"What's wrong? You're out of your game today." Sana's tone is so cocky that Mina wants to ask Dahyun to shut her up again.

"Ughhhh." Mina grunts, removing the grass from her pants. "Can't you spar with Dahyun for a change?"

"Hmm, should we, Goldie?" Sana smirks and Dahyun jumps away.

"I'd love to, but I'm very, very busy with my speed training. Very busy." Dahyun walks away from them. "So busy tonight!"

"Oh, well. I guess we have no choice. Let's go again, Minari." Sana gets in position and Mina hates everything.

"How about _we_ spar for a change?" A voice speaks from behind and the three vampires freeze, turning around.

Dahyun is the first to react. "Tzu! You came!"

Sana eyes her from top to bottom, then smirks. "Well, look who's here. And with whole new legs, too."

Tzuyu walks over to them, her blades as comfortable as ever. She bounces a little from one foot to the other. "You told me I had to try."

Sana looks proud. "I did."

Mina steps back, both impressed by the cool-looking legs and relieved that she got to catch a break.

Tzuyu gets in position soon enough and Sana wastes no time in mirroring her. "Let's see if you still got it, Tzuyu."

Tzuyu closes her eyes, then opens them again. Shiny silver.

Sana moves first.

She charges at her with one arm aiming directly at her torso. Tzuyu crouches, then jumps. And she goes so high that the three vampires lose her from sight. Sana waits, one hand on her hip. Tzuyu finally comes down, tripping and falling face-first on the grass.

Sana raises an eyebrow. "You have no idea how to use these legs, do you?"

Tzuyu doesn't move, then lifts her head up. "No..."

Sana pinches the bridge of her nose. "Yeah, I should've guessed it. It doesn't matter, we're here to train." She helps her up. "So, let's train."

"Hold on, hold on, can we race against each other?" Dahyun asks, hyperactive like a puppy.

"That's—” Sana stops. "That's a great idea, actually. I wanna see who's faster."

"Nice!" Dahyun smiles. "Come on, Tzu. Whoever gets to those trees first wins."

"Okay." Tzuyu nods.

"On your marks," Sana says. "Set... go!"

It happens so fast that Mina has to close her eyes when the wind from their sprint hits her face. When she opens them again, the two girls were gone.

"Can you see them?" Mina asks and Sana squints her eyes.

"Not really."

Then, out in the distance, a tree falls.

"...That was Tzuyu trying to stop, wasn't it?" Mina says.

"Most likely."

They wait a few moments, then Dahyun returns to them, fast as always. "She's buried under a tree and I'm not strong enough to lift it..."

Sana sighs.

Once Tzuyu is free again, Sana asks. "So, who won?"

"I think it was a tie." Dahyun says, checking up on Tzuyu for any serious bruises. "You ok? Do you need to rest?"

"I'm fine." Tzuyu smiles at her, then at Sana. "It was a tie. Dahyun is very fast."

"Interesting." Sana says.

Mina knows that there's a plan cooking in Sana's brain at this point and decides to let her be.

She turns to Dahyun and Tzuyu. "Well, since you're here." She takes three tickets from her pockets. "If you want to come to our debut showcase tomorrow. Give one to Chaeyoung, too."

"Your debut is tomorrow?" Dahyun takes the ticket and smiles. "That's so nice! I've never been to a showcase before!"

Tzuyu looks at her ticket like it's made of gold. "Can I really come?"

Mina giggles. "Of course. Nayeon insisted on it."

"I want to go, Dahyunnie." Tzuyu says.

"We'll be there for sure!" Dahyun says.

Mina feels giddy at how excited her new friends are. Then she feels a presence right next to her ear.

"Don't I get a ticket?" Sana's voice is so velvety that Mina shivers.

She jumps away from her. "Not if you keep acting like a creep!"

Sana laughs. "I'm joking—" But she stops when Mina takes another ticket from her pocket and gives it to her.

When Sana doesn't take it, Mina frowns. "What? Just take the damn ticket."

"...That's for me?"

"Yeah, yeah—" Mina halts.

Sana looks genuinely shocked.

And it takes a moment for Mina to realize why that is. But when it hits her, it hits her hard.

Sana never expected to be included in such an important even in Mina's life. After everything she did – the fights, arguments, horrible words.

She really thought Mina hated her.

Mina has to grab Sana's hand and place the ticket on her palm. "...I'm the one who asked for your ticket." She says. "I want you there. Idiot."

Sana is speechless.

She can't bring herself to look at Mina and just turns around. "You're a strange one, Minari." Her voice is hoarse.

Mina just lets out a breathy laugh and shakes her head. She has to remind herself that Sana only does the things she does because she's incredibly afraid of losing the people she learned to care about. And there weren't many in her life.

Mina rubs her eyes. "You're welcome."

"Awnn." The moment is broken by both Tzuyu and Dahyun, who were looking at them with teary eyes.

"Ahhh enough sentimentality!!" Sana yells from the top of her lungs, startling everyone. "YOU!" She points at Tzuyu and Dahyun. "A HUNDRED LAPS!"

"Y-yes ma'am!"

Mina sighs.

Sana allows Mina to leave training early since she would debut tomorrow. She's glad she doesn't bruise easily, or else she'd be pissed at Sana for sparring with her.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Mina waves them goodbye.

"Mina." Sana stops her. "Uhm. Good luck."

Mina smiles hard.

\--

The sun rises in the distance, bringing with it warmth and the comforting sound of birds singing.

Nayeon's eyes had been open for a while. She checks the clock. 6:00am was probably a good time to get up. With a grunt, she sits up, basking in the moment.

Today was the day.

It's funny. When Nayeon had walked into the company to become a trainee, she'd expected her life to change drastically. But nothing could have prepared her for... well, this.

She knew she had changed. Meeting vampires changed her. And she had changed their lives, too.

And Nayeon wished she could say she was lucky. She taunted death so many times, over and over again, but nothing akin to death had ever come her way. Mina would never turn her, Sana would protect her. She was ridiculously safe.

But it wasn't luck. Nayeon knew that now.

She hesitates for a moment, but decides to try something. She closes her eyes, places a hand to her chest, and allows the silence to engulf her. Nayeon searches for it. Inside of her, the presence that forced its way out when she needed guidance.

When they needed guidance.

She can't find it. It's there, she knows, but not as clear as it has previously been. Probably because this wasn't a situation of life and death. It was only a dumb debut.

"...If you're there," Nayeon whispers to herself. "My dream is coming true today. So... thank you."

And she feels a tiny spark at the back of her head, like a flash of a headache, but it disappears as soon as it comes. Nayeon opens her eyes, frowning. She rubs her head where it hurt, then decides to get up.

She thinks she hears it when she's brushing her teeth.

_Thank you._

\--

Mina stares at the stage with stars in her eyes. She had debuted once before, but nothing as grand as a showcase. She'd been a solo artist with few fans, but now that Nayeon was with her, the number of fans increased.

It was early in the morning, but she felt alive.

Mina shivers when someone presses a cold bottle against the back of her neck. She turns around and sees Nayeon smiling. She looked even prettier without makeup and a messy hair.

"Got your favorite." Nayeon says.

Mina takes the bottle. "Cranberry?"

"Tomato."

"Ew."

They sit behind the curtains, watching as the staff puts things together for the night showcase. Nayeon can't stop smiling, so thankful for the effort all those people put to make her dream come true.

"Are you still nervous?" Mina asks.

Nayeon hums. "Yeah. A little."

"Me too."

"Did you invite her?" Nayeon teases.

Mina drinks her juice (which was indeed cranberry, not tomato) to stall answering her. Then she sighs. "It's a mystery."

"Mina..."

"Did you know Tzuyu has badass new legs?"

"Oh, you saw her yesterday?" Nayeon smiles.

"She's so cool."

“You’re such a fangirl.”

Mina talks about their nightly training sessions; how she's learning to dance to avoid Sana's hits. How Dahyun is ridiculously fast and is getting better at controlling her legs. How she wanted to ask for Tzuyu's autograph at some point, but held herself back. Nayeon giggles.

"Vermillon, please take the center of the stage, we'll test the lighting now." One person from the staff says from his mic and the girls get up, moving fast.

They would spend the whole day practicing for the real debut at night. Nayeon wondered if their friends would come.

\--

"You're looking a lot better than before." Yeri smiles. "Something good happened?"

Chaeyoung doesn't really know how to answer that. "I guess... this really important friend of mine is feeling better, so I'm happy too."

"Ohhh... friend, huh?" Yeri smirks. "I see, I see."

The insinuation makes Chaeyoung blush and she hates how she can't control it. "Don't be weird."

"Oh lord, you're so red! How come you never told me about this friend?" Yeri pretends to be hurt.

"Because we're just friends!"

"But you want more."

"I—" She pauses. "Whatever!"

"Come on Chaeng, I'm bored out of my mind. Everyone in this hospital is either married or divorced, you're the only young person I can talk to about dumb romance." Yeri nearly begs and Chaeyoung, unfortunately, feels bad.

"...It doesn't even matter if I want more." She replies.

This seems to please Yeri, who makes herself comfortable to listen. "Why not?"

"We could never be together." Chaeyoung says, and it sounds really dramatic for someone who doesn't know her reasons.

"Oh, hell. She lives in another goddamn continent, doesn't she?" Yeri deadpans.

 _I wish._ Chaeyoung thinks, but shakes her head. She can't tell Yeri the true reason.

That one day Tzuyu will have to watch her die, like everyone else she came to care about, and that Chaeyoung can't possibly be another heartbreak in her life.

"Yeah, that's it." She settles for it.

Yeri grabs Chaeyoung's hands and squeezes them softly. "I'm sorry, Chaeng. It really does suck."

Chaeyoung laughs weakly. "Yeah. But it's ok, that's why we're just friends. I'm happy like this." Liar.

"Damn, now I feel bad." Yeri groans. "Wanna go drink after work?"

And strangely, Chaeyoung smiles at that. "Can't. I'm a VIP at a debut showcase."

Yeri raises an eyebrow. "You like idols?"

"I do now that I'm a VIP!" She laughs, letting go of Yeri.

The two chat for a while, the afternoon sun above their heads. Chaeyoung is excited.

\--

Dahyun is covered in cats. It's heaven, maybe.

Noodle, Taco and Kierkegaard are all cuddled together on her lap after a playful afternoon, and Dahyun honestly can't remember the last time she had a peaceful afternoon taking care of these cats. She's glad Noodle is safe.

She hears the door unlocking and looks over her shoulder. It's Mrs. Kang arriving after work, carrying some bags of groceries.

She catches Dahyun on her living room and waves. "Oh, hello!"

"Hey, Mrs. Kang." Dahyun waves back. "I'd help you with the bags, but your children have me hostage."

"Oh, isn't that just lovely." Mrs. Kang puts the bags down and takes out her phone. "Let me take a picture."

Dahyun poses with a smile. The moment she takes the picture, the cats start stirring, waking up. "Hey, good morning you three."

They meow, full of hunger.

"Okay, okay, I'll give you some food. Follow me." Mrs. Kang says, and the three cats jump from Dahyun's lap to the kitchen.

Dahyun giggles and follows them, watching fondly as the older woman takes some chicken from the fridge. "Taco, stop scratching!"

"Taco is a riot." Dahyun checks the clock. She still has some time before the showcase.

"Kierkegaard, leave Taco alone." Mrs. Kang argues with them as the three try to climb her leg to get to the chicken.

Dahyun moves to help, taking Taco on her lap. "Be patient, Taco boy."

Noodle meows.

At that moment, Dahyun remembers something. "Mrs. Kang, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"How did you come up with the names for your kitties?"

Mrs. Kang hums. "Well, Taco is my favorite food. My husband really loves Kierkegaard's work..."

"And Noodle?"

"Noodle was the name of their mom," She smiles. "We liked it so much that we decided to pay homage to her. One of her kids was going to be called Noodle."

And this, for some reason, hits Dahyun so hard that she swallows the tears.

She looks at Noodle at her feet. That's why.

"That's why you liked Jeongyeon so much... she smelled like your mom." Dahyun whispers, then smiles gently. "Isn't that right, boy?"

Noodle meows.

"What was that, darling?" Mrs. Kang asks.

Dahyun shakes her head. "It's nothing. Just... thinking out loud."

\--

The sky is dark outside when Jeongyeon gets up from her desk, grabbing her coat. Seungyeon looks up. "Where are you going?"

"Out." Jeongyeon says, then chuckles when Seungyeon rolls her eyes at her. "It's not a hunt. I just... have somewhere to be."

"How mysterious."

Jeongyeon walks toward her sister. "A girl gotta have her mysteries." She places a kiss on top of her head. "Want me to take you home?"

"Nah, go have your fun. I'll bribe Mr. Moon to take me home." She smirks.

Jeongyeon laughs. "Alright. See you."

She leaves the office.

Seungyeon waits for a moment, then moves her wheelchair toward her sister's desk. It's hard with one arm. Once she reaches it, she takes the portrait of their family that Jeongyeon always keeps on the table and removes the picture, revealing another one behind it.

Mina's.

Seungyeon looks at it. She hasn't talked to Mina after the accident, and the girl hadn't looked for her. Or maybe she had, only to find out she had been paralyzed, and freaked out. It didn't matter. Seungyeon didn't blame her for it.

"Have fun, Jeong." Seungyeon smiles.

\--

Tzuyu waits outside the building, bouncing a little on her legs to pass the time.

Dahyun chuckles by her side. "You can't keep still with these legs, can you?"

"It's fun." Tzuyu replies.

"Cute."

"No."

"Yes."

Finally, Chaeyoung arrives with her car. "Get in, we'll be late!"

Dahyun sits in front and Tzuyu in the back. Chaeyoung then drives away. "Tzuyu, do you have your seatbelt on?"

"No." They hear a click behind them. "Yes."

"And did you eat?" Chaeyoung asks.

"Yes."

"Chaeng, you can go a little faster." Dahyun says.

"No, this speed is fine."

"Tzu, tell her to go faster." Dahyun turns to her.

"Go faster." Tzuyu says.

"No! I'm within the speed limit." Chaeyoung frowns when Dahyun turns the music on. "It's too loud."

"What? I can't hear you!" Dahyun says.

"I said it's too loud!"

"Is it, Tzu?" Dahyun asks.

"No."

"What are you, eighteen?" Chaeyoung turns the volume down, only for Dahyun to turn it back up. "You're the worst."

Dahyun laughs and Tzuyu, for their surprise, laughs as well. Chaeyoung allows the song to be loud if it means she can hear her laughter.

Maybe she loves this chaos.

\--

Sana stares at the door for a long time. Inside, she would find Jihyo and Momo.

Her Momo.

She missed her so much, it physically hurt. But she promised herself that the next time she saw Jihyo, she would kill her. So she had to wait a little longer. For both their sakes.

She sighs, places her forehead against the door that separates her from her bondmate, and closes her eyes.

 _Just a little longer, my love._ Sana thinks, because she can't risk speaking out loud. After that, she turns around and leaves.

She had a concert to attend.

\--

They could hear them. The crowd behind the curtain.

Once it was lifted, Nayeon and Mina would become Vermillon. Cameras were waiting for them, people were waiting for them.

Nayeon is shaking. Mina grabs her hand. "We can do it."

Nayeon takes a deep breath. "We can do it."

The lights go out. The crowd yells. The curtain is lifted, lights on them.

Nothing else matters.

Only the [music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eX7tHCLkFQ), the dance, and each other.

Mina's blonde hair shines against the light. Nayeon's expression changes. They move in tandem to the beat.

Everything flows so well. Nayeon feels unstoppable.

She gets behind Mina, hand on her chest, eyes on the crowd, teeth on her neck, like they've practiced countless times. Mina's body is water; flows flawlessly The song envelops their minds and hearts.

They belong to each other.

Before they know it, it's over.

Nayeon breathes heavily, frozen in her final pose. Mina does too, behind her, one hand over her eyes, another on her hip. The crowd explodes in cheers.

When Mina removes her hand, Nayeon sees a world of color.

There were so many people.

Mina pokes her and Nayeon snaps from her trance. They look at each other, nod, then say at the same time. "1, 2, 3... Blood on blood! Hello, we are Vermillon!"

It feels silly to say it for the first time. But no one laughs. People only applaud even more.

They were Vermillon.

And then, Nayeon sees them.

She sees Sana first, as always. But Sana isn't looking at her. She's looking at Mina. Nayeon smiles even more.

Then, beside her, Tzuyu, followed by Dahyun and Chaeyoung. Right beside her is Jeongyeon, also looking at Mina.

They were all here.

_Not all._

Nayeon hears it clearly in her head. Maybe because of the adrenaline of it all.

"Alright, give it up for Vermillon!" The MC walks into the stage and the crowd cheers again. "Please, take a seat, let's talk a bit about yourselves!"

Nayeon would worry about it later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on twitter @niigoki_


	14. Chapter 14

Jeongyeon isn't sure how she got here, but she couldn't leave now.

They had already ordered food and she was hungry. Someone on the table next to them gets up, hitting their glass with a fork to call for attention. "Cheers! For a successful debut!"

The restaurant cheers.

It's so incredibly loud. Having a restaurant filled with staff members and their friends is wild. Jeongyeon feels like she's at the club.

She looks at Mina, sitting beside her. "Who was that woman who just cheered?"

"Our manager." Mina replies, then laughs. "You look tired."

"I'm not tired, I'm just..." Jeongyeon looks around, frowning. "I don't even know, actually."

In front of her was Tzuyu, the murderer of her parents, teasing Dahyun, the cat-sitter, who was sitting beside Sana, the one who paralyzed her sister.

"Understandable." Mina nods.

Nayeon peeks at Jeongyeon, her chin resting on Mina's shoulder. "You okay over there?"

"I'm hungry." Jeongyeon says, trying to avoid looking at the Silvers at the table. "I'm not a people person, either."

"No kidding." Nayeon says, then winces when Mina elbows her. "Sorry."

"I'm just gonna eat and leave." Jeongyeon sighs, leaning back on the chair and closing her eyes. Mina feels bad for dragging her to their after-showcase dinner party, but she didn't want to leave Jeongyeon all on her own.

Besides, Nayeon insisted in having them all together.

Mina leans towards Nayeon, muttering in her ear. "Maybe we shouldn't have brought Jeong after all..."

"She'll have to meet all of us at some point to discuss strategies, Mina. The earlier she gets used to Sana and Tzuyu, the better."

It made sense, but still.

"You sleepy, hunter?" And because Sana couldn't keep her mouth shut for two seconds, she had to say something that would create a threatening environment for everyone.

"Sana, not now." Mina glares.

"What? We'll have to talk at some point. Better do it now."

Nayeon nods.

"See?"

Jeongyeon opens her eyes, looking mad. "You're the last person I care about on this table, so I'd watch my mouth if I were you."

"Oh, so Tzuyu is above me." Sana leans her chin on her hand. "Interesting."

Tzuyu shrinks on the chair. Jeongyeon grunts. Nayeon sighs heavily.

"Can you not do this? For once?" Mina almost begs.

"I'm trying to be polite." Sana smiles lazily.

"This was a mistake." Jeongyeon starts getting up, but stops when Sana throws something to her. The hunter takes it, frowning.

"Headache medicine." Sana says. "For you."

Jeongyeon eyes her suspiciously, but slowly sits back down.

Mina's shoulders drop in relief. She hated Sana's roundabout way of being friendly; she always had to get on people's nerves first.

"Anyway, that was an impressive choreo." Sana continues. "Specially the biting part."

Nayeon knew she would be teased endlessly for that, especially now that Sana had seen it, but she had her pride as an idol now.

Still, she blushes as she speaks. "Mina taught me how to do it."

"Oh, I bet." Sana smirks. "I'm so jealous, Minari."

"Shut up." Mina groans.

"I feel like we shouldn't be listening to this." Dahyun says and Chaeyoung nods.

"See, you made everyone uncomfortable." Mina argues.

"Oh, please. The hunter is having dinner with her parents' murderer, talking about your love life won't kill anyone."

"I'm about to kill _you_."

"Now I know why you left the coven, Mina." Jeongyeon says. "If I had to live with this Silver, I'd also go insane."

Sana smirks back. "Oh, but this Silver definitely drove Mina insane. More times than she can probably count."

"Sana!" Mina bares her teeth. "Enough."

"I'm just saying, if I was a hunter and my ex fell in love with a Silver, I'd be a little mad." Sana leans back with the final blow.

Jeongyeon instinctively goes for the gun in her pocket while Mina is about to fly on Sana's neck.

"Alright, settle down!" Nayeon interrupts.

The table quiets down as everyone goes back to their seats.

Nayeon turns to Sana. "What's the point of this?"

For once Sana averts her gaze. "I just—"

"Antagonizing her won't help us get along. The past is in the past, Sana." Nayeon is serious. "Look forward to your future."

The words sink in. Her future.

She never had a prospect of a good one, so digging people's painful pasts was the only way she knew how to break the ice. But now, she had a shot at a happy future.

And she was blowing it by being childish.

"You're right. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me." Nayeon says and Sana sighs.

The vampire looks at Jeongyeon. "I'm sorry. I was out of line."

Jeongyeon is still pissed, but Nayeon was right. They had to learn how to work together to kill a common enemy.

With a sigh, she offers her a hand. "Shake it."

Sana stares. "Uh, can it be your other hand? I kinda just have one."

And it's so ridiculous that Mina snorts juice out of her nose. She coughs, Nayeon pats her back, Chaeyoung worries, Dahyun laughs, Tzuyu takes a picture.

Jeongyeon offers another hand. "Shake the damn thing."

Food finally arrives and this gives the humans a reason to celebrate. Dahyun whines at how much she misses pork belly when Chaeyoung gets a mouthful of meat. Tzuyu doesn't even remember how food tastes like, but she's happy to see Chaeyoung so content.

Time flies.

Nayeon looks around the table as Goldens drink, humans eat and Silvers chat, and softens her gaze.

This felt right.

Somehow, she knew things were working out. But there was something missing, still. Nayeon didn't feel complete yet.

"I miss Momo." She says, suddenly.

Sana is wired to pay attention to anything involving Momo's name, so she's the one who turns to her, confused. "What?"

Nayeon blinks, shaking her head. "What?"

"You said you miss Momo." Sana repeats. "You never even met her."

"I know, but... I just got this feeling."

Sana stares a little longer, then gets up. She takes Nayeon's arm. "Come to the balcony with me?"

Nayeon nods, getting up as well. Mina notices and tilts her head, questioning. Nayeon smiles and tells her not to worry. Unfortunately, Mina trusts her with Sana.

The balcony outside is empty, save for a few people smoking. Sana and Nayeon move to the furthest corner where they could talk in privacy.

Both lean on the balcony, staring at the night sky above.

"Is there something you wanna tell me?" Nayeon asks.

"You first."

Nayeon knew she couldn't hide it for much longer. She figured Sana would understand. "I think there's something wrong with me."

"In what sense?"

Nayeon tries to put it into words. "Like... sometimes, I'm not myself. Like someone else is there, slowly taking over me."

Sana doesn't freak out, doesn't judge her. She just hums. "I felt that back at your house, too. When you said you knew what the Bitch was doing, because you've been through it before."

Nayeon's heart picks up speed. "What does it mean, Sana? I'm... scared of this. I hate it."

Sana stares at the city. "So you finally admit it. You're scared of all of this."

"Of course I am!" Nayeon doesn't yell, but she feels overwhelmed. It's the first time she admits it out loud. "Everyone just blindly follows me, and I don't even know if it's really me in here."

"Then why don't you stop? Why don't you call off this whole operation? You've got nothing to lose by not fighting her. And with enough words, everyone would agree that it's futile and go back to their lives." Sana says, numbly.

"I can't do that. I have to kill her."

"See?"

"What?" Nayeon asks, hands gripping the rail.

"You HAVE to kill her. We HAVE to be together. You're terrified, but you keep going, saying stuff like this, like... it's your destiny, or something." Sana chuckles. "Forget about us, you're the one who wants to kill her the most."

"But why??" Nayeon feels a headache incoming. "My life is the least intertwined with the Bitch's, so why—"

"Did you know that you're the first person who lived after I asked you to make a journal?" Sana interrupts.

There is a silent moment, then Nayeon speaks again. "What?"

"You're not the first Nayeon in my life, you know." Sana's eyes are gentle. "For centuries I teased humans like you. Encouraged them to dig deep into vampires, their curiosity always got the best of them, they made friends along the way. But eventually, they all died early."

Sana leans back, looking at the stars. "And I never knew why. One day I'd visit, and they wouldn't be there anymore." Nayeon notices Sana's tight grip on the rail. "Sometimes, when I'd go to your house, I'd hesitate to open the door. I was afraid you'd be gone like the rest."

She looks so fragile against the low light. Nayeon was always amazed at how vulnerable Sana could be when she opened up to her.

"Why did you encourage all those people to research about vampires?"

"Because maybe they could find a way to save Momo and I." She smiles. "Maybe."

"But... isn't killing the Bitch the only way to do that?"

"It is. I was looking for someone who could do it."

Nayeon frowns. "A human?"

"I've seen vampires try, Nayeon. They can't kill her. But every human I talked to was so resourceful. I was just desperate, I guess."

"That's why you broke Mina's heart... If she tried killing her, she would just die like every other vampire." Nayeon comes to a full understanding.

Sana turns to her. "Yeah. But you? You're still alive, you found out about her golden eye. You're special, Nayeon." Her gaze softens and she tucks a loose strand of hair behind Nayeon's ear. "I think you're the human I've been looking for all my life."

Nayeon wants to cry. She has such a huge responsibility on her shoulders. The happiness of so many people depend on her.

It's so much.

And because she doesn't want Sana to see her tears, she leans forward and buries her face on the vampire's shoulder. Sana wraps an arm around her, looking up.

"I don't think your destiny is to kill her. I think it's to help us to be free." Sana mutters against her hair. "So, don't worry about that thing inside of you. If you feel like we should listen to it, we will." Sana grins.

"You'll follow me?" Nayeon asks, voice muffled.

"To the end of the world, my lady." Sana says, then frowns.

The words feel familiar, somehow.

Very much so.

\--

They had roughly two weeks until the fight.

Jeongyeon was going crazy. Vampires, apparently, couldn't shut up on a group chat.

 _'Guys, look at how cute Taco looks when he sleeps!'_ Dahyun sends a picture of a cat.

Tzuyu sends, _'Cute.'_

Mina sends, _'Awwn!'_

Sana spams stickers.

Jeongyeon mutes the damn phone with a click of her tongue, putting it on the pocket inside her coat. She couldn't get distracted now; there was a vampire to hunt. She moves slowly through the crowd, eyes searching and attentive ears. This fellow had been causing problems lately.

Then, she sees him. The picture back at the office had been clear enough for Jeongyeon to recognize his hair and features. He was accompanying a woman, and both were chatting contently. His victim, clearly. Jeongyeon follows them quietly until they take a turn on an empty street.

She waits, then turns as well. The couple was far ahead, still laughing closely together. Jeongyeon pitied the poor girl. She probably really liked him, but she was nothing but a snack to the Silver.

When she sees them walking into an alley, she quickens her pace.

There is no sound coming from the alley, which is weird. Jeongyeon touches her back on the wall, waiting for a chance to strike.

Then, she finally hears something. A whimper, maybe? It's enough to make her turn and grab her stake gun. "Get away from her, Silver."

And Jeongyeon didn't expect to see... well, this.

The vampire was clearly sucking the girl's neck, but she didn't seem desperate at all. With one hand, she held his head close, face flushed as small whimpers left her mouth.

When Jeongyeon stepped into the alley, both froze. 

"No, please!" The girl is quick to jump in front of him, protective. "He didn't do anything wrong!"

Jeongyeon frowns, gaze moving from the vampire to the girl, her gun still pointed at him. "Miss, I don't think you're aware—"

"He's a vampire, I know. But he wasn't hurting me!" 

Jeongyeon had come across situations like this before, but back then, she didn’t care. She would shoot without mercy and let the human deal with the loss.

But now, Jeongyeon lowers her gun. The woman was shaking with fear, and behind her so was the Silver.

Jeongyeon sighs. 

And she decides to do something she's never done before. She asks. "Why?"

The girl lowers her arms. "Why... what?"

"Why do you subject yourself to this? Do you want to turn into a vampire?"

The girl is speechless, and the Silver speaks for her. "I would never turn her." 

"Why? You love her?" Jeongyeon asks.

"He does!" The girl nods. "I know of his... condition, but that didn't make me hate him. I wanted to help... he said I could, and he's so gentle."

Jeongyeon raises an eyebrow and puts her gun back in her pocket. "You think you're special." The statement is ominous. Jeongyeon then approaches them, smirking. "Let me guess. He made you believe he's a victim. It's so hard to live as a vampire. It would be better if you stayed away from him. But you still love him so much."

She takes some papers from her other pocket. 

"So, you decide on a compromise. He can drink from you, if he has to feed every night. You don't mind. In fact, it feels good. You're starting to like it. And he's so gentle." Jeongyeon throws the papers at their feet. "But you're not the only one he convinced." 

The papers are pictures of all his victims. Other women who had been found in the exact same position; in an alley, teeth on their neck, a content smile. After all, they love him so much.

The girl drops her shoulders, slowly turning to him. "...You cheated on me." 

The vampire knows he's cornered, so he tries to escape. Jeongyeon feels it and takes her gun again, shooting above their heads. She predicted he would jump, so the stake hits him right on the chest when he does.

He disappears, turning into dust. It's over quickly. 

Jeongyeon barely budges when the dust floats over their heads. She's done this, countless times.

But the girl watches the particles of dust with wide eyes. Then, a tear. Followed by another. She drops to her knees and screams, body wrecking with sobs. "You killed him!" 

"He was already dead." Jeongyeon says, but this time her chest feels weird.

The girl sobs more, and Jeongyeon doesn't get it. He was a cheater and a Silver. Why was she so upset?

"We had memories together..." The girl hiccups. "He... we could've talked about it..."

It’s painful. 

Jeongyeon's mind is a blank. She's never tried to console anyone, but now she wanted to say something. However, nothing came to mind.

Seungyeon would know what to say, but she wasn't here.

"You can find someone else." Jeongyeon finally mutters, then turns to leave. 

"How would you feel?!" The girl yells from behind her, voice choked with tears. "If someone killed the one you loved just because they're a vampire?!"

This makes Jeongyeon stop momentarily. She hates how guilt crawls its way up, suffocating her.

Such a hypocrite, Yoo Jeongyeon. 

But there's nothing she can say to that girl that would ease the pain, so Jeongyeon resumes her steps, leaving her alone. The words would chase her to hell and back, she knew.

Gray areas, Seungyeon had called them. Jeongyeon wished she never had to deal with them. 

Once Jeongyeon's legs take her far away from the alley, she stops. She didn't even realize she was running. Out of breath, she leans against a light pole, looking up. The night was dark. She hits her head against the metal once.

Then she takes her phone and checks the messages. 

There was nothing actually important in the chat. Dahyun had flooded them with cat pictures and everyone was squealing at how cute they looked. Then, Sana told them to cut it out and meet her for their training session.

Jeongyeon writes something, 20 minutes later.

_'Cute cats.'_

\--

Nayeon failed to realize that the life of an idol was chaotic and very busy. She promised the group that they could talk strategy after her debut showcase, but she simply did not have the time to actually meet them.

"I may have miscalculated." She whispers to Mina in the van. 

"You're the one who said we could do this in the middle of our debut." Mina whispers back, arms crossed.

"And we can! I just need to plan this better." Nayeon feels offended that her girlfriend was doubting her skills. "When are we free?"

"Ten days from now."

"...Hm. Shit." 

"Alright, so ten days from now... we'll have five days to prepare for the fight. You're never tired so you can still train with Sana every night—"

"We have schedules at night, sometimes." Mina reminds her.

"...With the exception of the nights we have schedules." Nayeon groans. "But you've got the hang of your skills, right?" It almost sounds like Nayeon is begging Mina to tell her she's suddenly able to beat the shit out of Jihyo.

"We have no battle plan, it doesn't matter if I can avoid Sana's punches without a strategy." Mina rubs her temples. 

"Right. So, we need to focus on a strategy first." Nayeon nods to herself.

"It's what we've been saying from the beginning."

"Mina. I have had two cookies and a Red Bull for breakfast, do not pressure me into _thinking_."

The staff in the van turn to them. "You girls okay?" 

"Absolutely _lovely_. I can't wait to perform at M Countdown, it's been my dream since I was a little girl!" Nayeon forces a smile and Mina facepalms.

"...It's Inkigayo today." Their manager says.

"I know! Isn't it exciting?" Nayeon might be on the verge of a breakdown. 

The van is quiet after that and Nayeon feels like she might be fired right after debuting. That would certainly be hilarious.

Suddenly, she feels a chill, and it escalates so quickly that she has to grab her chest. It's like she can't breathe. Her entire body turns cold. 

Mina notices something is wrong and immediately touches her shoulder. "Hey, are you ok?"

Nayeon removes her seatbelt to crawl to the window on the other side of the van.

And she sees her. It's quick, but it's enough. A blur of a woman with an eyepatch, walking down the street. 

The van is going fast, so the woman is gone quickly. She hadn't sensed Nayeon inside it, or else she would've turned. But Nayeon did sense her. With every fiber of her being, she knew it was her.

The coldness subdues and Nayeon falls on Mina's lap. "...she was just there." 

"Who?" Mina hugs her despite the ruckus they are causing.

"My—"

The van hits a hole on the street, making everyone inside it jump with the impact. The driver slows down, turning to the passengers in the back. "I'm very sorry."

The manager complains and Nayeon feels exhausted. 

They arrive at Inkigayo and Mina has to support Nayeon's body as they walk. She's still shaken from whatever happened, but promised that this wouldn't interfere with the performance.

When the manager asks what the problem is, Nayeon pretends she's just too anxious and excited. There are many famous idols walking down the corridors of the place, and Nayeon and Mina greet them with smiles and polite bows. It's such a wonderful world.

But Nayeon can't be marveled at the beauty of it all. That face is stuck to her mind.

She's all she can think about.

The sandwich isn't bad. Mina forces Nayeon to eat it before going on stage, afraid she would faint. She still wanted to know what happened, but it had to wait until after they filmed their choreography.

The day goes by much too slow. Nayeon seems completely out of her game. 

They don't win any prizes, as expected, but there are some fans who cheer for them. Mina does all the work of smiling and sending finger hearts to the people who came to watch them. Nayeon occasionally grins too.

Soon, they go back to the dressing room. 

There is a moment, between hair stylists moving in and out of the room and their manager leaving to pick up a call, where Mina and Nayeon are allowed some privacy.

Mina can finally ask. "Who did you see back then?"

"Her." Nayeon says, eyes unfocused. "Big, Bad, Bitch." 

"What—"

Nayeon gets up, grabs her phone from the table, and calls someone. Mina frowns. When the person picks up, Nayeon's voice is unwavering. "Jeongyeon, let's meet tomorrow night to come up with a strategy. Right after our schedule, so around midnight should be good. Great. I'll let the others know. Thanks. Bye."

Nayeon hangs up, then starts typing on the group chat what she just told the hunter.

Mina gets up and stands by her side. "Hey..."

And when Nayeon looks at her, Mina remembers Jeongyeon's words. A completely different body language. 

"I can't keep making excuses. Defeating her is our top priority. You were right, we need a strategy, and we need to be serious about this."

Nayeon doesn't even sound like herself. Mina just nods, slowly. "Y-yeah."

"I need this to be over, Mina." She sounds broken. 

\--

Sana doesn't like this feeling in her chest. At first, she thought it was simply the fact that she never went too long without being in the same vicinity as Momo, and now that she's actively avoiding her because of Jihyo, she felt heartbroken.

But it's something else, now. 

She walks down the coven's corridor, ready to leave for the night, when she meets a friend on the way.

"Yujin." Sana calls. "Have you... seen Momo lately?"

Yujin hums. "Now that you mentioned... I haven't. Wow, you're right, it's been a while."

Sana's chest grows heavier. "And Jihyo?" She asks, just to be certain.

"She hasn't been around either... I thought she was traveling again, actually." Yujin is kind and worries for Sana. "Is everything ok?"

"I don't know." Sana looks away, anxious. "It's probably nothing. Anyway, thanks Yujin." 

After that, Sana walks again. She didn't have the luxury to think about the worst possible scenario now; she had to attend a strategy meeting and focus on the goal. After she killed Jihyo, everything would be fine.

If Nayeon said they could do it, Sana believed her. She had to. 

\--

Their meeting place was a big wooden table under a light pole in the park. Usually used for picnics with family members, now being used as a war table.

Jeongyeon had sketched the abandoned building from memory and it was honestly impressive.

Dahyun had brought RPG figures. 

"Alright, is everyone here?" Jeongyeon asks, looking around.

"Sana is the only one missing, she should be getting here soon." Mina replies, watching the horizon for the missing Silver.

"Eh, she can catch up."

"Jeong." Mina rolls her eyes. "Stop being petty."

"Fine." 

"Meanwhile," Dahyun smiles, pushing the figures on top of the sketch. "I'd like to explain my fine choice of characters for everyone."

There is a collective groan but that doesn't stop Dahyun. "First, Jeongyeon! You're a hunter and have cool weapons, so I thought, maybe a ranger."

"I really don't care." Jeongyeon says.

"Then, Mina! You're not as strong or fast, but you're capable of sneaky combat and nimble tricks. So, I've assigned you as the rogue." Dahyun gives Mina her figure.

"Thanks."

"Tzuyu, you're the assassin."

Tzuyu's eyes shine. "Yay." 

"I'm super weak but really fast, so maybe Tzuyu and I can be both assassins..." Dahyun hums. "Well, I'll think about myself later. Sana is obviously the powerhouse, so she's the monk."

"Monk?" Nayeon raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah!" Dahyun snorts. "A one-armed monk, that's rich."

"Chaeng! You're the coolest because you're not just a simple healer." Dahyun smiles wickedly.

"I'm not?" Chaeyoung is confused.

"No! You heal the dead! So you know what that means..."

Tzuyu raises her hand. "Oh, oh! She's a necromancer!"

Dahyun winks at her. "Precisely!" 

"Guys, that's morbid." Chaeyoung winces, but takes her figure anyway. She analyzes it. "Oh, I have a cool robe."

"I think these are fine choices, wouldn't you agree?" Dahyun sounds stupidly proud.

"Hey, what about me?" Nayeon argues.

"You're the DM, you don't get a character." 

"DM?" Nayeon looks at Mina for an explanation.

"Dungeon Master. The person who creates the storyline and organizes the game. You know, the details and challenges for the players." Mina explains.

"But I want a dumb figure." Nayeon pouts.

"They're not dumb." Mina pouts back. 

"Yes, they are." Jeongyeon grunts, pushing the figures away from her sketch. "Can you people be serious for once? If you keep joking around none of this will work, we'll all die miserable deaths, I won't get my revenge, and I'll haunt every single survivor."

There is silence. 

"She's right." Someone speaks from behind and everyone jumps, startled. It's Sana, and she looks angry and tired as she sits next to Jeongyeon. "Enough fucking jokes."

Mina has never seen her so defeated and serious, but she knew better than to ask. "Ok. You're right." 

Despite hating the fact that Sana is sitting next to her, Jeongyeon appreciates the silence now. Everyone was finally focused.

"Alright." Jeongyeon starts. "Two weeks from now, we'll be fighting the Bitch in this abandoned building. Nayeon is certain she'll be there, waiting." 

Nayeon feels the confusion in the air, but nods. "She will. Jeongyeon went there a few days ago and something chased her away. Told her that it wasn't the time, and she shouldn't be there alone."

Chaeyoung blinks. "Okay...?"

"Look, just— trust me." Nayeon has a headache. 

They just nod, because doubting Nayeon has never worked for anyone.

Sana looks at Jeongyeon. "Who told you about this building?"

"A Golden named Sei." Jeongyeon answers. "Rings any bells?"

"Hm. Not really."

"You sure? Because she's part of your coven."

Sana frowns. "There are no Goldies in my coven." She is bothered by this.

"Do you know every vampire in your coven? It is pretty large." Jeongyeon refutes.

"They usually introduce themselves. I'd remember if a Goldie had become part of it recently."

"Then she was kept a secret." 

Sana just scoffs. "Of course. Why did I think she would tell me anything?”

Nayeon speaks. "Jeongyeon, how did you meet Sei again?"

Jeongyeon looks at Dahyun. "She was the Cat-napper."

Dahyun widens her eyes. "Oh! That girl!"

Nayeon smiles, unconsciously. "Of course." 

"Of course what?" Jeongyeon stares intently at Nayeon.

A look of realization crosses Dahyun's face and she's the one who replies. "The Bitch sent her to kidnap my cat, which made me meet you, which made Chaeyoung call you when Tzuyu went missing, which made all of us meet..." 

Nayeon nods. "Another reason to believe things will work out."

Sana hits the table with one hand, snapping everyone out of their trance. "Can we focus on how we're gonna kill her? _Now._ "

Mina is worried. Something must have happened to Momo. "I agree. What's our strategy?" 

Jeongyeon clears her throat. "Fine. First, I need to know everyone's strengths. I'll assign you positions and roles based on that."

Sana is the one who relays all the information; about Dahyun and Tzuyu's speed, Mina's agility, her own strength despite her handicap. 

Jeongyeon then tells them confidential information about hunter weapons. How they work and the ones she can use to capture and hurt vampires with ease.

Mina is surprised; she never expected Jeongyeon to trust them this much. They talk about traps and silver crosses. 

Jeongyeon explains how the building looked from the quick glance she took around the place. There were no ceilings; light came through the hole on the very top floor. Huge columns could be used as hiding spots. Tzuyu and Dahyun's speed would be useful to distract Jihyo. 

Then, they talk about the ordinary humans. Chaeyoung would have to be placed somewhere strategic for the retrieval of blood bags. Jihyo couldn't know where she was, but the others

would.

And Nayeon—

"There's no reason for you to be there." Jeongyeon concludes. 

" _What_?" Nayeon protests. "I have to be there too!"

"No, you don't. You'll just get in the way." Jeongyeon says.

"I will not!" Nayeon gets up. "I can help! Look, put me with Chaeyoung, we'll be far away— I can hold some blood bags on the other side, help her with that!" 

Chaeyoung mutters. "It would make me feel safer if Nayeon was with me..."

"That's not the reason I don't want you there." Jeongyeon stares at Nayeon. "It feels like you want to be there more than anyone, even without knowing how to fight. To put it simply, I don't trust you." 

"What?!" Nayeon nearly yells. "That's ridiculous!"

"Who's to say this isn't a complex scheme just to get you to convince all of us to gather in one place and get us killed? I just told you all of our plans here, you could easily ruin us all." Jeongyeon doesn't budge.

"I won't!" 

"Jeongyeon, this makes no sense. You said you trusted Nayeon. You said you'd bring her there." Mina confronts her.

"And now that we're all on board with it, I don't want her there." Jeongyeon shrugs.

"That's not your choice to make!" Nayeon yells. "I need to be there!" 

"Why?" Jeongyeon asks.

"Because I do!"

"Not convincing."

"Jeongyeon, you know I do!"

Jeongyeon gets up as well. "Not happening. When the time comes, we'll take care of it, and you'll wait for it all to be over."

"No, I won't!"

"You will."

"No one else can kill her but _me_!" 

There it is. What Jeongyeon was waiting for. She finally drops the act, and speaks softly. "Quick. Before you're gone again, who are you?"

Everyone is confused. Mina and Sana stare at Nayeon.

Nayeon opens her mouth, frozen. Her lips move, but no words come out. 

After that, Nayeon simply sits again. She coughs, her head feels like it's exploding. Mina wraps an arm around her, carefully. "Nayeon?"

"...I'm okay." Nayeon finally speaks.

Jeongyeon softens her gaze, sitting back down. "I'm sorry for that. I had to try." 

"Okaaaaay, that wasn't freaky at all." Dahyun says, hiding behind Chaeyoung.

Jeongyeon shakes her head. "It's late. We should all rest for the night."

"Yeah." Sana says without tearing her eyes from Nayeon in front of her. "We all should."

They agree. Tzuyu, Chaeyoung and Dahyun bid the others goodbye, getting into Chaeyoung's car. They didn't need more complications.

Sana, Jeongyeon, Nayeon and Mina, however, stay a little longer.

"The thing inside of you really wants to kill the Bitch, huh?" Sana says, casually. 

Nayeon buries her face in her hands. "She really does."

"She?"

"Y-yeah. She." Nayeon looks at her sweaty palms. "Right now, she was really angry. At Jeongyeon."

"I think she'll be angry at anyone who tries to stop her from achieving her goal." Jeongyeon concludes. 

"Just to be clear... you're not really stopping me from going to the fight, right?" Nayeon asks.

"No, I'm not." Jeongyeon replies. "I just wanted to see if I could bring out an emotional response from you. Well, from... her."

Mina rubs Nayeon's back. "We'll be there together." 

"In fact, whoever is inside of you might be our salvation in the end. I think we will die if you're _not_ there." Jeongyeon sighs.

"What a hero." Sana teases.

"I feel like throwing up." Nayeon groans. "I can't throw up, I have M Countdown tomorrow."

"Music Bank." Mina corrects. 

"Fuck, when is M Countdown??"

"After tomorrow, I think?" Mina guesses.

And the weirdest sound come from Jeongyeon and Sana's mouths. They laugh. Together.

It stops as soon as they realize who they're laughing with, but Nayeon and Mina would never forget this moment. 

"Go to sleep." Jeongyeon says, tiredly. "We have a fight soon."

"Yeah." Nayeon mumbles. "Soon."

Mina helps her girlfriend up, and both wave the other two goodbye. Nayeon is still dizzy. She had to wake up in four hours.

But at least, now they had a strategy.

14 days. 

\--

Dahyun wakes up with a grunt. She hasn't really slept – she hasn't been sleeping lately – but being a vampire meant not feeling so tired. She won't be able to go back to sleep anyway, so she gets up.

The silence engulfs her, and she doesn't enjoy it, so she leaves her room. 

It's quite early for Chaeyoung to be awake, but the sunlight leaking through tells her that Tzuyu is already sleeping. Dahyun decides to check on her roommates to push the loneliness away.

When she opens the door to their room quietly, she stops with a bittersweet smile. 

Tzuyu's bed is empty; there are two bodies occupying Chaeyoung's. Tzuyu had tucked herself under the doctor's chin, and looked peaceful and content. Chaeyoung had one protective arm around her.

It's weird, Dahyun thinks. Her heart doesn't beat, yet it hurts. 

She shakes her head, admonishing the thoughts that plague her mind, and steps back carefully not to make a sound.

"Not now, Dahyun." She whispers to herself. Chaeyoung's affections to Tzuyu were no secret; Dahyun knew her best friend like no one else.

Besides, she was too late. 

Chaeyoung and Dahyun had known each other since they were kids. They went to the same school, then to the same university, then decided to live together. There was not a single moment of her life where Chaeyoung wasn't there. She was her constant.

Dahyun had had many chances. 

Yet, she had been terrified of the change in their relationship if she were to admit it. Would Chaeyoung feel betrayed? Possibly.

So, she hid it for years.

She knew it in middle school, how different her love for Chaeyoung was. But she refused to acknowledge it, for their sake. Then, they found Tzuyu. And God, Tzuyu was so precious to both of them. Dahyun couldn't, for the life of her, feel jealousy toward the way Chaeyoung spoiled her. Dahyun wanted to protect Tzuyu too.

It all changed, however, when Dahyun turned into a vampire.

Dahyun didn't know why, but her feelings for Chaeng had grown exponentially after that. She saw her in every corner, every crowd, longed to come back home and be greeted by her again.

But now Chaeyoung had Tzuyu, and Dahyun was too late.

So she lied. She was a pretty good liar. 

It didn't mean that seeing them sleeping together like that didn't hurt her to the core. But Dahyun didn't have the luxury to be hurt, not now. In two weeks, they would probably die. Chaeyoung deserved to be the happiest until then.

"Alright!" Dahyun forces a smile. "Breakfast." 

Dahyun grabs some juice from the fridge and sits on the couch to watch TV until she had to leave.

An hour later, Chaeyoung leaves her room, yawning. "Hey Dubs..."

"Morning, lazy butt." Dahyun waves.

Chaeyoung drags her feet towards the kitchen. Dahyun grins. She's cute. 

When Chaeyoung returns, she sits next to Dahyun. Their legs touch and Dahyun tries to ignore it. "You look relaxed."

"Hmm." Chaeyoung just hums with a lazy smile. "I guess so."

"Was it because of a certain cute vamp in your bed?" Dahyun sing-songs, teasingly. Chaeyoung blushes. 

"Are you stalking me, you creep?" Chaeyoung chuckles, voice still hoarse from sleep.

"Just have to be sure my two cute roommates are healthy and well." Dahyun replies.

"I think the whole strategy thing scared her a little, so..."

"So you cuddled. Chaeng that's cute!" It hurts. 

"She's a big baby." Chaeyoung mumbles, face still reddened. Then she scratches the back of her neck. "Honestly, I'm also pretty freaked out."

"Yeah..." Dahyun was good at trying not to think about their doom, but it was hard. "I am, too."

"We should all just cuddle together." 

"Only if Tzuyu is in the middle." Dahyun turns her gaze back to the TV.

"You hate the thought of cuddling with me that much?"

"Yes. Tzuyu is a lot cuddlier." Dahyun is such a good liar.

"Like we haven't cuddled since we were five." Chaeyoung breaks her walls anyway. 

"I was a kid and knew nothing of the world back then." The words come out flawlessly, like Dahyun intended.

Chaeyoung finally snorts a laugh. "Dork." She munches on her bread. "You going somewhere today?"

"Yeah. Have to see some friends before... you know." Dahyun shrugs. 

"Hm." Chaeyoung hums. "I should probably call my mom. Haven't seen her in a while."

"Yeah. Me too."

The mood drops and it feels like a funeral, suddenly. Their last goodbyes to unsuspecting loved ones. How cruel is that.

"Well, gotta go." Dahyun gets up before the weight of her thoughts crushed her. 

Chaeyoung stops her with a hand on her wrist. "No goodbye hug?"

And Dahyun looks down at that girl on her pajamas, eating bread with sleepy eyes, and it would be so easy to just scream how much she loves her. One last chance.

But Dahyun had had many chances and now it was too late. 

"Sap." She just bends down and hugs her, and Chaeyoung smells like Chaeyoung. She squeezes her a little harder. "See you tonight."

"Have a good day." Chaeyoung's voice is low in her ear and she loves, loves, _loves_ her.

Dahyun leaves her house with a phantom heartbeat. 

\--

Fansigns are fun. Nayeon comes to the conclusion that seeing the face of her fans literally energizes her. So, idols really weren't lying when they said that.

"Hi!" Nayeon smiles at a boy, autographing his album as she speaks. "How are you today?"

"I'm good!" He's nervous. "How are you?"

"I'm great now that you're here." Nayeon replies and the way he laughs makes it worth it.

"I— I watched the showcase." He tries to speak with her a little longer.

"Oh, did you? Thank you! Who is the best dancer?" Nayeon teases.

"You!" 

"I knew it!" Nayeon smiles with her teeth and she's sure the boy will faint. Fortunately, the security staff tells him to move to the next chair, so Nayeon waves. "Bye, bye!"

Next to her, Mina greets the boy too. Nayeon softens her gaze at how sweet and kind her girlfriend is. 

"Hi!" Nayeon greets the next person. A girl, wearing a shirt with Vermillon's logo.

"Oh god, you're even prettier up close." The girl brings a hand to her face.

Nayeon smiles, signing her album. "Stop it, you'll make me blush."

The girl squeals, then moves to Mina's chair. 

The next person sits in front of her. "Hi—" And Nayeon's smile freezes, because she can't do any other expression besides a smile in events like these, with cameras clicking everywhere.

But the person in front of her tries her hardest to make her break character. "Hey, Nay." 

Nayeon has a dumb talent, which is speaking through her teeth without really moving her lips. It's very useful for situations like these. She keeps smiling and talks, lowly. "You almost gave me a fucking heart attack."

Sana, covered in all black, smiles. "I'd never miss this." 

"You bought our album?" With the initial shock subdued, Nayeon's heart calms down and she almost laughs.

"No, I stole it from last night's dinner." When Nayeon widens her eyes, Sana rolls hers. "I'm kidding. I bought it like a good citizen."

"That's stupidly adorable." 

Nayeon autographs Sana's album, then considers it for a moment. She writes a little something extra. ‘ _Thanks for risking your life to come here in the middle of the afternoon.’_

"You think Mina will freak?" Sana smirks.

"Ah, shit. Don't let her freak." Nayeon facepalms. 

Sana doesn't say anything as she gets up and moves to Mina's chair, which only worries Nayeon a lot more, but she can't deal with this right now. She needs to smile to her next fan. "Hi! How are you?"

Her chest is actually warm. She never expected Sana to support her dreams. 

Mina isn't as subtle and lets out a squeal, but promptly brings her hands to her mouth. She closes her eyes, meditates for a bit, then smiles like Sana is just another fan. "Hi!"

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm meeting my bias!" Sana's voice is high-pitched and Mina hates her. 

"Oh, I'm your bias, huh?" Mina sounds a lot less enthusiastic when she signs the album.

"Of course you are, Minari. It's a mother's job to stan her child—"

"It was really nice to see you!" Mina strongly pushes the album back to Sana, waving her goodbye. "Bye!!" 

Nayeon hears a loud laugh and turns her head to look. She sees Sana leaving the table, holding her stomach from laughing so hard. Then, she sees Mina's forced smile, as if she's restraining herself from murdering a vampire today.

Oh, well. It could've been worse. 

\--

There are less people today than the last time Dahyun came to the meeting, and she feels sad. It was the last time she would see her friends before the fight. She wished everyone was there.

"It's good to see you again." Nayoung smiles when Dahyun walks in.

"Good to be back." 

Sejeong, Doyeon, Yoojung, Sohye and Chungha smile from their chairs. They seem well today.

"Well, I'm not sure if there's anyone else coming, so I'll start the meeting." Nayoung says, a bit disheartened. "Today's topic is—"

"Uh," Dahyun raises a hand. "May I suggest a topic?" 

"Oh, of course." Nayoung likes it when people actively participate. "Go ahead."

"I'd like to discuss love."

The other vampires exchange gazes, a bit puzzled by the choice. No one really rejects it, so Nayoung nods. "Very well. We haven't really talked about it yet." 

"Do any of you guys have someone you love? Romantically, I mean." Dahyun asks.

No one speaks for a moment, then slowly their voices come up. "Yes." Is the collective answer.

Except for Chungha. "Not really."

The only Silver in the room. She probably hasn't found her bondmate yet. 

Dahyun decides to add something to the question. "And is this person, perhaps... a human?"

Once again, silence, before everyone says "Yeah..." in a confused voice.

Dahyun remembers everything Nayeon told them about the curse of the Goldens. "I see." 

Goldens weren't able to fall in love with other Goldens, only with humans and Silvers. The fact that everyone in the room admitted that they loved a human proved that it was real.

"It's sort of weird, though..." Yoojung speaks suddenly, feeling shy.

"What is?" Dahyun asks. 

"Before I became a vamp, I was dating someone." She looks away. "But, uh... she turned into a vamp at the same time as me. After that, we just sort of... fell out of love? If it makes sense."

Oh, no.

"Did she... turn into a Golden?" Dahyun asks.

"Yeah. I did." Doyeon says. 

"Ohhhh my god." Sejeong cracks a smile. "Wait, you two are ex-girlfriends??"

"Don't make a big deal out of it." Doyeon crosses her arms.

"That's spicy!"

"It sucks!" Yoojung spits out. "I really loved her! The memories are still there but they just don't mean anything anymore." 

Dahyun can't even imagine how jarring that must've been. Someone who meant the world to you, suddenly feeling like just another person in the crowd.

If Chaeyoung turned into a Golden, would Dahyun's feelings also cease to exist?

"We're still best friends, so it's fine." Doyeon shrugs. 

"Are you sure you two just didn't decide to give it a break because of your new condition?" Nayoung asks.

"We're not giving it a break. We just don't... feel anything for each other. We talked about it many times, and we both feel the same." Yoojung sighs. "Can we move on?" 

"Alright. Anyone else wants to share their love life?" Nayoung looks around the room.

Dahyun wants to tell them all about the curse, the reason why they stopped loving each other. Wants to tell Chungha about bondmates and how she'll find someone eventually, but the others won't. 

But she can't bear this responsibility. It would crush their little lives. Dahyun has a newfound respect for Nayeon and everything she did to bring the gang together. She had such a burden on her shoulders.

"Sometimes I wished I wasn't capable of love." Sohye says, suddenly. 

Dahyun lifts her head to look at her. "Why?"

"Because... what's the point? Even if I confess and we get together, he's going to grow old and I'll just be the same. He'll leave me. Or he'll die. I wish I never loved him in the first place." Sohye clenches her fists. 

The room grows quiet. Dahyun thinks about Chaeyoung. She will grow old eventually, and then she will die. And Dahyun will never love anyone else as much as she loves Chaeng. But if she turned and became a Silver, she could be with Tzuyu. And Dahyun could still have her in her life. 

But if she turned and became a Golden, Dahyun's feelings would disappear. She hates thinking about it.

Dahyun remembers her favorite quote and finally understands it like she's never understood it before.

"It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." 

The girls look at her. She said it out loud.

"That's deep." Sejeong tries to lift the mood.

Dahyun smiles, awkwardly. "But that's what I think. If we just... give up on love because of what we are, doesn't that mean we're giving up the rest of our humanity?" 

"You're always concerned about this, aren't you?" Nayoung smiles softly.

"About what?"

"Us, losing our humanity. Every time someone brings up the fact that vampires aren't human, you have a counterargument. You might not realize it yourself, but you're good at keeping us human." 

Dahyun had no idea she needed to hear this, but she did. She slowly breaks into a smile. She thinks about her team and the problems they all faced.

Maybe that was the role she could play for them. Bringing hope when all was hopeless. Being the light.

Like the sun. 

\--

Jeongyeon stares at the address on her phone. She's been debating the whole day if going there again was even worth it after everything; there were important things in that place, things that could help them.

But the memories and feelings she would have to go through scared her. 

An eraser hits her head. Jeongyeon puts the phone down and stares at her sister on the other side of the office. "Really? What are you, twelve?"

"I called you three times and you didn't hear me." Seungyeon defends herself. "Who are you texting? Is it a boooooy?"

"You're ridiculous.” Jeongyeon puts her phone away and stretches her tired arms. "I'm not texting anyone. Just work stuff."

"Lame excuse." Seungyeon tries to stretch her one arm; her paralyzed left side feels heavy and she sighs. "Care to share?"

"Don't worry about it."

"I'm worrying about it." 

Jeongyeon chuckles at the banter. Seungyeon really didn't change at all, even after Sana—

Her mood drops. She hated to remember that she was working with the Silver who did this to her sister. Gray areas were still too much of a mystery.

"Seung, can I ask you a question?" 

"Shoot." Seungyeon nods.

"If I ever found the vamp who did this to you... would you want me to take revenge?"

The silence is cutting and Jeongyeon sweats. She feels so nervous.

Her sister was the world to her. Depending on the answer, she would have to betray Sana in the end. 

"No." The word is so short, yet Jeongyeon feels like she's been hit in the chest by a bulldozer. Seungyeon simply softens her gaze, staring at her baby sister.

"No?" Jeongyeon repeats it, because it doesn't make sense to her.

"No." Seungyeon says, then waits. Her sister looked adorably lost. 

"But..." Jeongyeon wants to argue, even though she's sort of relieved by the answer. "That vamp ruined you."

Seungyeon sighs. "Yeah. She did." She stares at their family portrait. "But the last time we lived in search of revenge, it ruined the both of us. It's tiring." 

"She killed our parents." Jeongyeon curls her fingers into a fist. She was talking about Jihyo, but Tzuyu also came to her mind. So why was it okay to let Tzuyu live and not Jihyo? "I'm not letting her go."

"I'm not asking you to. Just saying that once that's over, we're free." Seungyeon turns her wheelchair completely to face her. "I've been meaning to talk to you about this. It might take weeks, months, years, but once you finally find and kill Jihyo... do you want to quit being a hunter?"

Jeongyeon never thought about life after Jihyo. 

"I..." Jeongyeon stutters.

"You don't have to answer me now. Just... think about it, yeah?" Seungyeon smiles gently.

"...What would we even do if we're not hunters?" Jeongyeon sounds small and fragile. Lost.

"Dunno." Seungyeon shrugs. "Gardening with our 12 cats?" 

Jeongyeon actually lets out a breathy chuckle. "Sounds boring. But nice."

Seungyeon smiles. "I know, right?" She turns her chair back to her table. "We have time. I'm not going anywhere. Well, at least not until my motorized wheelchair arrives. I'll be unstoppable then." 

"I'm not going to chase you around the house, I'll tell you that right now." Jeongyeon takes the eraser from the floor and throws it back to her sister, who catches it with her hand.

"You will once I steal your favorite cat and speed away."

"You wouldn't dare." 

They argue and laugh and suddenly living a normal life again sounds like a dream. Jeongyeon stores this idea on the back of her brain and uses it to fuel her desire to stay alive when they face Jihyo 12 days from now.

Jeongyeon decides to go back to the place, after all. 

"I'm going out." She takes her coat and ruffles Seungyeon's hair. "I'll be back before lunch, maybe."

"Oh, bring me those cookies from that store I like."

"I'm not going in that direction, Seungyeon."

"Pleaseeee?" She whines. "I can't go there by myself..."

"Ughhhh fine." 

Jeongyeon finally leaves the police station. Her hands sweat as she calls a taxi and her heart beats fast as they approach the place.

"It's here. Thank you." She pays the driver and gets out of the car, legs weak. She never thought she'd be coming back, but she had to. 

Nothing really changed from that night. It was still as abandoned and dirty as she remembered. Jeongyeon walks into the empty plot of land, where grass had grown and the ashes from the fire had been mostly wiped clean, and kicks the dirt, trying to find something. When her boots connect with something sturdy below the dirt, Jeongyeon crouches and starts to dig. Dirt gets under her nails and all over her jeans, but she doesn't care.

Finally, the hidden metal door is revealed. The locker is still there, untouched. Jeongyeon sighs in relief. 

"You really hid this well, old man." Jeongyeon mutters to herself with a nostalgic grin and takes off her necklace. A small silver cross hung from it. With a click, she opens the cross, revealing a tiny key inside.

Jeongyeon takes the key and opens the door. It's weird seeing the metal door out in the open. It used to hide behind her father's bookshelf in the living room. He never kept his job a secret from the family, and gave both girls a key to the place when they were still kids.

 _'For emergencies.'_ He had told them with a smile. 

After that, Jeongyeon goes downstairs. It's dark, so she uses her phone's flashlight. She had never actually gone inside the basement, so her hands shake with each step. She didn't know what she would find, but she knew that her father had some customized weapons that could help. 

She comes across another door and wonders if the same key could be used to open it. She tries, and it works, and Jeongyeon chuckles. "What's the point of using the same key for different doors?"

Finally, she walks into her father's secret lab. And it's nothing special. It looks like a simple copy of their old living room; a nice wooden floor, carpets, a tiny bookshelf, a small, old TV. There is a wooden table in the middle of the place, with a fancy velvet chair behind it.

It's such a nostalgic room. Jeongyeon pushes the tears down. 

She finds a light switch and tries, just for the heck of it. When the lights work, she blinks in surprise. "So the energy comes from somewhere else..."

Her father really was very prepared. Jeongyeon misses him terribly. She puts her phone away and starts searching. 

If the hidden door was behind their bookshelf in the living room, then surely the bookshelf here was hiding something as well. Jeongyeon checks that, first. She sees markings on the floor and grins. Bingo.

Now, which book did she have to pull? "Riddles everywhere, eh, dad?" 

She tries to remember if her father had a favorite book, but her memory wasn't as good as she thought. There were so many old titles in that shelf. Her father could've been a fan of any of them.

"Ah, screw it." Jeongyeon decides to try all of them.

It works on the first try. 

As soon as she pulls a random book, the entire wall moves, turning around and revealing a white room filled with weapons up to the ceiling. Now _that_ was unexpected.

Jeongyeon gapes, eyes moving from one shiny device to another. She takes a pic with her phone. Seungyeon would freak. 

A small click behind her catches Jeongyeon's attention and she turns around, hand on her gun immediately. There's no one there, however; only a small drawer that had opened automatically.

Jeongyeon sighs, heart still beating fast and walks towards the drawer. Inside, she finds a notebook. Jeongyeon takes it with utmost care and opens it slowly. It's handwritten.

Her father's handwriting.

It's absolutely filled with words and some drawings. But what catches her eyes first is the title inside.

_"The History Of The Vessel"_

As Jeongyeon reads the first sentences, her heart picks up speed. Everything sounds like a fairytale, a fantasy story that her father came up with after watching too many movies.

But as soon as reaches Part II, her breathing stops.

_"The Half-Golden Maiden"_

The rest of the book is written in codes.

Jeongyeon can't keep herself up, allowing herself to fall on the velvet chair. She puts the book down, gaze far away, trying to process it.

Her father knew? Was this why he was killed?

It was suddenly too much to deal with at once. 

She didn't have time for this. Whatever was written about the Half-Golden Maiden could help them. She had to decode the book before the fight.

Jeongyeon needed to know what the hell Jihyo was.

And she had to read about The Vessel again. Things were starting to come together. 

\--

Nayeon feels like her legs are on fire and her bones could crack at any minute. Dancing countless times for a single shoot could be tiring.

The moment she gets home, she throws herself on the couch with a big sigh. Mina looks at her, smiling softly. "You look like shit." 

"I look like shit, I feel like shit..." Nayeon sniffs her armpit. "Probably smell like shit, too. I don't know, I can't tell."

Mina goes to the kitchen, placing their bags on the table. "You still smell delicious, don't worry."

"Great... love smelling like a miracle virgin." 

Mina returns with a glass of water and sits beside her. "Here."

"Thanks." Nayeon mutters and takes the glass. She tries to drink still lying down. Mina doesn't say anything and watches as the water drips all over her girlfriend's chest.

"Cold..." Nayeon whines. 

"Sit up like a normal person." Mina tries to sound serious but seeing the girl like that was almost pitiful.

Nayeon sighs, finally sits up straight, and drinks the rest of her water. "Better." She looks at Mina, who is smiling at her, and feels the urge to kiss her. So she does. 

She pulls back quickly, and Mina keeps smiling. "What was that for?"

"Nothing. Just felt like it." Nayeon tries to avoid explaining herself by drinking more, but the glass is empty. "I can kiss my girlfriend."

Mina's mind echoes, _girlfriend, girlfriend, girlfriend._

"Okay." Mina says, dumbly, because she's always been hopelessly in love with all her loved ones. Clumsily, she dips forward and kisses her too. "I can kiss my gi— girlfriend too."

Nayeon chuckles. "You stuttered."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did no—"

Nayeon kisses her again. 

It's slower this time, nicer. It's quite ridiculous how easily Mina gets lost in Nayeon; in her lips and skin, in the little sighs between kisses. Both pull back at the same time and just stare at each other.

"We did good today." Mina caresses Nayeon's hair and she loves her. 

"Yeah." Nayeon allows herself to enjoy this moment, but quickly leans back again with another sigh. "And you have to do good at your training session today, too."

Mina groans. "Why did you break the nice moment..."

"Because once this is done, we can cuddle forever." 

Mina chuckles breathlessly. "Forever sounds nice."

There's melancholy in her voice and Nayeon realizes that forever means two very different things for both of them. "Sorry, I didn't mean..."

"It's okay. I try not to think about it." Mina gets up. "I should go." 

"Yeah." Nayeon nods. She feels weird inside. Part of her doesn't want to let Mina go, but a stronger part of her wants her to leave now and train hard so they can finish this once and for all.

Nayeon clings to her desires strongly, afraid of losing her identity to someone else. "One more kiss?" She grasps at Mina's jacket, almost like a child.

Mina turns to her, but relents with a grin. She cups Nayeon's face and kisses her strongly. Nayeon holds her arms, nails digging on the sleeves. She wants to be with her tonight.

But her grasp loosens. 

"See you tomorrow." Mina whispers against her lips and Nayeon forces a smile, nodding.

She watches as the vampire leaves her house, waves her goodbye once more, then closes the door. When she's alone, Nayeon clutches her chest, frustrated.

"Stop telling me how to feel." 

And for once, the voice replies.

_'It'll hurt more later.'_

Nayeon's heart nearly jumps out of her chest and she trips on the carpet, falling on her ass. She looks around, just to make sure she's not going crazy, but there's no one else there.

"...Hello?"

_'Hello.'_

"FUCK." Nayeon stops moving completely, afraid of scaring the voice. "Wait! Hold on, hold on, don't go!" She had no idea how this worked; maybe if she moved too much the voice would fall back into the void.

_'I'm not.'_

"Oh my god." Nayeon could scream. "You're actually here."

_'Yes. For now.'_

"Okay, wait— I need to. Questions. There are so many questions I need to ask you!" Nayeon slowly puts her arms down. "You still there?"

_'You can move, you know.'_

"...If I do, I might actually pass out, so I rather not."

_'As you wish.'_

Nayeon's mind is a mess. "No, wait, I seriously need you to tell me absolutely everything."

_'I cannot do that.'_

"Fuck you, why not??" She reckons that yelling angrily at the magical guide inside her won't help, so she calms down again. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that."

_'Yes, you did.'_

"Ugh." 

_'You are angry, it's understandable. I was angry as well.'_

Nayeon has never been so focused on her entire life. "As well...? Wait, so you've been through this too. Right? I'm getting somewhere. Please tell me I'm getting somewhere."

_'I am not here to provide answers.'_

"Then why are you here at all??" Nayeon grabs her head, frustrated. "If you won't help me, then get the fuck away from me!"

_'I am helping you. Subtly, but surely.'_

"You're putting words in my mouth and feelings in my heart that aren't mine!"

_'I am not. You are you.'_

"No, I'm not! Ever since this whole vampire thing started, I've been feeling like a stranger in my own goddamn body." Nayeon hugs herself tightly.

_'These are all your memories and your feelings. You are just remembering, slowly.'_

"Remembering what?" She nearly begs. 

_'You cannot unlock your memories because you have not met them all. As the battle approaches, your memories start returning, more and more each day. That is all.'_

"That answered jack shit." Nayeon grunts. "Met them all... You mean Momo, don't you? She's the last one." 

_'You are aware, because you are starting to remember.'_

Nayeon's hold on herself loosens. "I'm not, I just... feel things. I feel like my choices are the right ones, and everyone else follows me..." Nayeon buries her face in hands. "Just... what am I?"

_'You are The Vessel.'_

The voice disappears, then. Nayeon feels it. Her eyes blur and she lets out a tiny sob. She doesn't understand why she feels so overwhelmed suddenly, but the tears won't stop, and she can't get a grip.

As the tears subdue, she starts breathing normally again. She's tired. 

With shaky legs, Nayeon gets up. She feels like her life force has been drained, but she forces herself to go upstairs. Getting to her room, she grabs her journal and a pen, and with a trembling hand, she writes it down.

_'I am The Vessel. Hoorah.'_

\--

Tzuyu sits down, puts her headphones on, and closes her eyes for a brief moment. After a small meditation, she opens them again, puts on her best smile, and clicks the link to go live.

"Hello, everyone. It's been a while." She says and the comments start popping up. 

"I wanted to talk to you a lot today, while I play. I have some... bad news." She smiles sadly, moving the mouse to the game icon. "This will be my last stream. I'm sorry to break the news so suddenly." She waits for the match to start. "But... let's make this a happy stream." 

_'Nooooooo whyyyyy_ _😢😢😢😢😢_ _'_

"I found something I need to do. Something I have to do, that won't allow me to stream anymore. That's also why I haven't been online lately." Tzuyu explains. "But once it's done, I think... I will be very happy. So, don't worry." 

_'hi its been a while, i'll miss your streams the most :('_

"I miss you guys the most, too." Tzuyu feels a weight in her chest, but smiles, nonetheless. "Thank you for watching me being silly."

_'Hi i love you!!!_ _❤❤_ _'_

She looks straight at the camera. "And I love you." 

_'The first stream I get to watch in months is gonna be the last stream? All nighter it is!'_

"Normally I'd say not to do that, but today I want to spend the most time with you. So do an all-nighter. I won't tell your parents." Tzuyu chuckles.

_'Hi tzuyu we miss you_ _💕_ _'_

"Me too." 

_'TMI for today?'_

"Okay." She finally finds a match and thinks about a character to pick. "I will play with someone I never played before." She picks Vlad. "My TMI is that I'm afraid of vampires. That's why I never play with Vlad. But I think I'm starting to lose that fear." 

_'WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S YOUR LAST STREAM??_ _😭_ _DO YOU FIND A GIRLFRIEND AND STOP HAVING TIME FOR GAME?'_

"Huh? Girlfriend? That's not the reason I'm not playing." Tzuyu quickly responds, then looks down with a shy smile. "It does sound nice, though. Being loved feels warm." 

_'Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?_ _😭😭_ _'_

"I'm sorry to make you cry." The game starts and Tzuyu bites her lower lip. "What items should I get..."

_'master tzuyu it's been an honor'_

"The honor has been mine." Tzuyu salutes, then laughs slightly. "You guys really make me the happiest." 

_'Why are you not streaming anymore??_ _😭😭😭_ _'_

"It's not because I don't want to. But I fear I might not—" Another character jumps on her and Tzuyu yelps. "Ah! Oh no, I'm being ganked. Hold on." She manages to escape. "That was close. I almost died." She chuckles. "Vlad is weak." 

_'I don’t know why you’re retiring but I wish you luck_ _💕_ _You’ve been a great source of happiness for me_ _thank you for everything!!'_

"You are so sweet. I don't know if I ever told you guys how you saved me, quite literally." Tzuyu smiles as she farms. "Thank you." 

_'Are you going to be okay?'_

Tzuyu hums for a moment. Then, she nods. "Yeah. I will be okay, regardless of the outcome."

_'im so happy seeing you doing LIVE again. we would totally miss you 101% after this'_

"I will, too. So much." 

_'ive been your fan since the beginning and i'll miss you tzuyu-chan_ _😭😭_ _'_

"You have? Oh, wow, thank you so much for not giving up on me, even when I didn't stream." Tzuyu smiles at the camera.

_'best of luck tzu_ _💗_ _'_

"Yes, I will need luck. But I have friends to help, too." 

_'*Mina's username:* I want your autograph, but I'm to shy to ask'_

Tzuyu laughs loudly. "You mean Mina, the idol from Vermillon? You think she'd be my fan? That would certainly be funny, because—" The enemy character jumps on her and Tzuyu dies. "Oh, I got distracted!" 

_'Is there really no chance for you to return? :('_

"I don't think so. The thing I have to do might take my— time. Yes, all of my time. I will be very busy." Tzuyu buys new items and goes back to the fight. "I'm sorry."

The fight breaks out again, but this time she wins. 

_'Tzuyu who's your favorite LoL champion??????? Is it vladimir?'_

"No, I'm scared of Vlad. My favorite is probably... Sona? She heals people and is very kind to others." Her smile reaches her eyes. "Healers are my favorites." Tzuyu feels warmth in her chest. 

_'queen tzu! i will miss you so much_ _😭_ _... but whatever this is must be super cool, i'll keep on supporting you, you deserve happiness_ _♥_ _thank you so much, love you!'_

"Wow... I will certainly remember your words when the time comes. Thank you very much." Tzuyu smiles. 

_'I'll miss your smile. Thank you for making me happy with your streams._ _❤_ _'_

"This is starting to sound like a goodbye stream." Tzuyu chuckles at herself, then fights the enemy character on her own. After a hard battle, she loses. "Oh, well. It's okay, I'll just try again." 

After half an hour of intense conflict, Tzuyu's team is victorious. Her character had died to most, but even so, she feels accomplished.

"I need to go, everyone." She quits her game and stares at the camera. "I want to sincerely thank you all for loving me. I mean it."

"Before the streams my life had been... difficult. Very much so. I wasn't in a good place. But then, you guys showed up. And you gave me so much strength, every single day. You, and my friends around me." Tzuyu's eyes blur. "I want to live." Her voice cracks. "...I want to live." 

Worried comments pop up, but Tzuyu just rubs her eyes and lets out a broken laugh. "I didn't want to cry on camera. I'm sorry." Her phone rings, Sana's number on the screen. "I'm going now. I love you. Live good lives, ok? Goodbye."

She turns off the stream for the last time. 

\--

"Doctor Son! I was looking for you!" One of the nurses approach her with a piece of paper in hands.

"Hey, Yuna. What's this?"

"Your blood bags have arrived a bit earlier. You're free to take them at the end of the day." Yuna's smile is contagious.

"O-oh. Already? Thank you." 

"No problem." Yuna hands her the paper then turns to leave. "Have a nice day!"

"You too." Chaeyoung says with a slight smile, then looks at the paper. She sighs. "That's too early..."

The blood bags were the only thing holding them back from the fight and they were finally here. For good two minutes Chaeyoung just stood there in the hallway, debating what she should do. Should she call Nayeon? If Nayeon told Sana about it, the vampire would certainly not want to waste any time and just dive into battle.

Chaeyoung wasn't sure she was ready for it. 

But what right did she have from holding them back? This is what they were training for. At least the other vamps; Chaeyoung would just be stationary and throw them blood bags from afar, or something.

Still, it was scary. She had their fate in her hands right now. It was a lot. 

She wondered if that's how Nayeon felt every day. Maybe she should stop whining and start helping.

But Chaeyoung wasn't Nayeon.

She slaps her cheeks, shakes her head, and makes a decision. Chaeyoung goes to her office, locks the door, and sits on the chair. She grabs her phone. 

It rings twice, then the person picks up. "Hello?"

"Hey, mom." Chaeyoung almost cries. "How are you?"

"Chaeyoungie! Hi, hi, things are fine, how are you? I was starting to forget your voice, you should call me more."

Her mother's voice is so comforting. Chaeyoung smiles hard. 

"I'm good." It's an automatic response. "I had some time off, so I decided to call." She turns on her chair. "I miss you."

"Miss you too. It's good that you have so much work, you should be thankful."

Chaeyoung rolls her eyes fondly. "I am, I am."

"Come visit me sometime!" 

Chaeyoung feels a knot in her throat, but forces her voice out. "I will."

"Next week, how about it? I'll cook you your favorite dish."

God, her mom didn't make this easy. Chaeyoung swallows hard again. "Maybe not next week. But, u-uh, after that? I'll let you know, ok?"

"Ok! So tell me, how are things? Have you been helping people? It's not easy being a doctor, my friend Eunkyung was just saying how her son had to see exposed bones every day because people are so reckless when they drive."

Chaeyoung chuckles. "I don't see bones, mom."

"Ok, good! But if you ever see a bone, remember to handle them gently, Eunkyung said that her son told her that it hurts a lot—"

"Moooom, I know how to handle an open fracture!" Chaeyoung can't believe her mother sometimes. Still, it feels nice to argue like this. She feels normal. 

"I know, I'm just saying." Her mother relents. "Anyway, enough bones, do you have anything new to tell me? Did you find a nice guy? Don't forget to introduce him to me when you come visit."

Chaeyoung blushes. "How did we go from bones to boyfriends?"

"Both are hard to deal with." 

This actually makes her laugh. "Fair enough. But no, no boyfriends."

"Aw, that's a shame. Girlfriends?"

Chaeyoung almost falls off her chair. "Wha—!"

"I'm just saying, it could happen. There was this one gay couple on TV the other day, are you watching the new drama?" 

"I don't have time for dramas." Chaeyoung buries her burning face in hands. "B-but, uh, it's nice that they're showing that on TV."

"It's a little weird, but you get used to it. I would get used to it if you found a girlfriend." Her mom says so casually that she laughs again. 

"Oh, yeah? Maybe I will find one, then." Chaeyoung teases, and when her mother keeps quiet, she's afraid she crossed a line. "That was a joke—"

"Okay, but you have to tell me what she likes to eat, or else I will cook anything, and she'll have to swallow it." Her mom decides. 

And Chaeyoung immediately thinks about how Tzuyu doesn't really eat anything other than blood and how that's a whole other issue she would have to solve another time.

When she realizes that she's thinking about Tzuyu, Chaeyoung curls into a tiny ball and blushes more. 

"T-there is, uh. Maybe. Someone I like." Chaeyoung mutters on the phone and she can hear her mother's smile.

"And you didn't confess to this person yet, did you?"

"Not really."

"You've always been so slow, I swear."

"Mom!" Chaeyoung whines. "It's not that easy."

"It is." 

"I'm not like you and dad, okay!" Chaeyoung sits up straight again and checks the time. "I have to go, my patient is about to arrive."

"Fine, fine. But Chaengie, tell that boy or girl or whatever that you like them before they slip away, ok? Mother's advice."

"...Okay, mom." And before she hangs up, she remembers the whole reason she called her mom in the first place. "Hey, mom?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you." The moment she says that, she realizes; those words might be the last words her mother will ever hear from her daughter. "I love you a lot." 

"I love you too. I'll send you some money." Her mother says and Chaeyoung chuckles, because of course she would think that she only said she loved her because she needed money.

It puts things in perspective. Chaeyoung should've said she loved her mom more. "Ok. Bye, mom." 

"Bye bye, love you." Her mother makes kissing noises on the phone and hangs up. Chaeyoung doesn't even have the time to ask her to talk a little longer, stay a bit more, sing her a nostalgic song.

Life goes by too fast.

Before Chaeyoung can cry, her patient arrives. 

\--

The golden sunlight at the beginning of the evening overflows against the carpet and furniture. It touches Dahyun's legs and she watches her own pale skin glow, eyes distant. Her hand caresses the fur of three cats sleeping against her. For the last time, probably. 

Noodle, ever so restless, wakes up first. He lifts his head at the touch of Dahyun's fingers and stares at her with sleepy eyes.

"Hey, bud." Her smile doesn't reach her eyes. "I'm glad you woke up before I left. Wanna talk for a bit?"

He purrs, and blinks slowly. 

"I don't think you're going to see me again after today." Saying the words out loud create a lump in her throat, but Dahyun forces it out. "I have a big battle thing coming up, and I pretend I'm confident, but I'm not. I'm sure my legs will freeze, and my speed will be useless." 

Noodle breathes slowly, calmly, like his world isn't about to end. Dahyun envies him. "You see, I'm a vampire, and I have to fight this bad, powerful vampire in a week or so. For some reason." Trying to remember why is getting harder every day. "For Tzuyu. And Chaeng."

"There are some other people in the mix that are staking everything on this fight, but honestly, I..." She frowns, letting it all out. "I don't care about their reasons? They seem to be important and all, but I don't even know these people. But Tzuyu does." Dahyun sighs. 

"Tzuyu is important to Chaeng." She corrects herself. "To me, too. She's a precious friend of ours. But Chaeng loves her and, well--" Dahyun doesn't know why it is so hard to say it, even when there's no one else listening. "I kinda... like Chaeng. A lot. Like, love her, maybe." 

Dahyun licks her lips and says it again. "I love Chaeng." Her hands are sweaty. "I love Chaeyoung. I've loved her since we were kids..." Dahyun's voice trails off and she looks at the palms of her hands. They're starting to blur. "I loved her first, Noodle..." 

"It's just not fair, you know...?" Dahyun laughs between a sob, because making jokes is the only way she knows how to cope with these feelings. "If only I had told her back then when she invited me to the school dance since we were losers without other friends, haha. Do you think she would've loved me, instead?" Dahyun asks with a crack in her voice and Noodle doesn't answer. He purrs nicely against her leg.

"Yeah, I don't think so, either." Dahyun rubs her face. "This whole... vampire thing made me believe in soulmates. Chaeng isn't mine. I guess that Tzuyu and I are the same in that regard. She lost her soulmate and I'll never have one." Dahyun chuckles with a snort. "Who knew we would bond over tragedy, huh?"

Noodle looks at her again. Dahyun scratches his ear. "Nayoung told me that I'm the sun, but my light is fading." She frowns, blinking at a familiar feeling. "Weird, I feel like I've had this conversation before with someone. Like these feelings have always been here." She shrugs. "I mean, they kinda have, I've loved Chaeng since we were very little."

But that wasn't it. It was ancient. 

The sunlight kept recoiling with each tick of the clock, and Dahyun knew that as soon as it got dark, Mrs. Kang would arrive, and she would have to say goodbye.

"But other than my tragic love life, I wanted to tell you that you're the one who brought us all together, Noodle. When you were kidnapped, I crashed into Jeongyeon, who was the last piece of the whole puzzle. The only reason I trusted her was because you trusted her, bud." Dahyun smiles. "Because you smelled your mom on her. I'm sure Noodle Mama would be proud of you."

He meows. 

"I'm not dumb enough to believe that this was all a coincidence. Tzuyu was the one who found Noodle Mama and brought her to Jeongyeon years ago. I'm sure the Big Bitch planned it all." Dahyun takes Noodle in her lap and hugs him. "I just want this to be over with so I can confess." 

"So, I wanna ask you, my dear friend. Should I confess to Chaeng before, or after the fight?" Noodle meows again, bothered, and Dahyun chuckles, kissing his nose. "Yeah, I don't think I'll make it through the fight. Before is probably better."

Dahyun had made a decision. 

She decided that, for as scared as she was of losing her own life, she was more scared of a life without Chaeyoung. So the moment she noticed Chaeyoung was in trouble, she would throw herself on Jihyo, no matter the consequences.

Dahyun was absolutely ready to sacrifice it all. 

"Thanks for the talk, bud. Made me feel better." She smiles with sad eyes and puts him back down.

The sun is finally gone, with only shadows as Dahyun's companions now, and she hears the front door opening. She takes one last shaky breath and gets up. "See ya, my friend." 

"Hey Mrs. Kang!" Dahyun greets the older woman with a cheerful disposition. She can't hear the reply; everything is muffled.

It's hard smiling when she's terrified, holding her hands from shaking, stopping her tears from falling.

But Dahyun has always been a great multitasker. 

\--

The street is darker than usual, Ryujin thinks. Some of the lamp posts aren't working and the deserted hill is starting to make her anxious, so the girl speeds up. She wants to get home soon.

Suddenly, she hears a rustling noise behind her. Ryujin stops, turning around. "Hello?" 

There is no one there, so she turns around again with sweaty palms, and keeps walking. Her legs were already used to the climb back home, but now they were on fire.

The noise happens again, a bit louder this time. Ryujin starts to run, now terrified of whatever was behind her. 

Unfortunately, she doesn't get far. One cold, thin hand wraps around her arm and pulls her back. Ryujin yells as she's dragged at an inhuman speed through the street, all the way to a back alley.

"Shh." The shadow says. It's too dark to see anything. "Relax." 

All she can see are two shiny, silver orbs, staring directly at her. Ryujin feels her muscles giving out as her mind gets hazy. She was so scared a few seconds ago, but now she's sleepy.

"Good girl." The voice is sultry. "Sleep tight."

Before she can, she hears a shot. 

The hand lets her go and Ryujin drops on the concrete, still too numb to understand what's reality and what's a dream. She hears more shots, a hiss, then a thud on the ground. The shadow had fallen next to her and was struggling.

Another voice speaks. "Now I'm having fun." 

Ryujin can't move; her brain was shutting down. Yet, she feels herself being pulled up. Strong arms pick her up.

"Stay here, I'll take her home and be back." The woman carrying her speaks.

"Jeongyeon, what the hell!" The shadow complains.

Ryujin falls asleep. 

\--

Sana wasn't having a nice time tonight.

First, her target had spotted her early and started running. Sana had to catch up and drag her to an alley. Then, before she could eat, Little Yoo had showed up and shot her with a...

Was this a net?

Sana was wrapped in a stupid net. 

"What the hell is this thing??" Sana tries her best to break free but she's utterly stuck. It made no sense, she was strong enough to rip off a net.

Without much of a choice, she huffs loudly, whines once more, then stops struggling. She had to wait for Jeongyeon to come back. 

A few minutes pass and finally, Jeongyeon shows up again.

"So the net works." Jeongyeon says, then allows herself a smug grin. "Look at you, completely at my mercy."

Sana rolls her eyes. "If you're going to give a dramatic speech just save your breath and shoot me." 

Without warning, Jeongyeon pulls her stake gun and points it at Sana, who finally stops joking around and stares at her. Jeongyeon doesn't say anything, one hand on the trigger.

Sana speaks. "Well?"

After a silent moment, the hunter lowers the gun, sighs, and helps her out. 

All she has to do is press a button and the net goes back to the device it came from. Sana sits back up and feels weird. She looks at her skin; it's red. "Secret hunter tools, I see."

"I never used traps before. Had to see if my dad's toys worked." Jeongyeon sits down. 

"Oh, so I was used as a guinea pig _and_ you took my dinner away." Sana growls lowly.

"You do realize that I'm still a hunter, even if we're working together for the time being, right?"

"You do realize that I have to eat if I'm going to use my full power against my boss, right?" Then, Sana smirks. "Unless you're volunteering to be my dinner tonight."

Jeongyeon presses the button on the device again and the net wraps Sana once more. "Oh, come on, it was a joke!"

"Don't think, for a second, that we're friends." Jeongyeon warns her with a mean look. 

"Fine, what do you want from me, then?" Sana's skin starts to itch. "Get this thing off of me, it burns!"

"The net is laced with silver on the inside. It doesn't directly touch you, but if you're wrapped in it long enough, it'll start to burn, very slowly." She sounds sadistic. 

"Good for fucking you." Sana spits and Jeongyeon finally frees her again. The sensation afterwards is awful, and Sana touches her face to relieve the itching. "Now we can give The Bitch a minor discomfort, guess we won."

"I need to talk to you." Jeongyeon interrupts. 

"You have absolutely zero people skills, you know." Sana still doesn't enjoy being around Little Yoo.

"I don't care. This is important." Jeongyeon reaches for something inside her pocket. A notebook. "I went back to my old home and found my father's journal." 

This catches Sana's attention. "A journal?"

Jeongyeon goes straight to the point. "I spent the last three days decoding this thing. And I think I figured it out."

"No wonder you look like shit." Sana says, then scoots closer. "Figured what out?"

"What Jihyo is doing." 

The silence is heavy and Sana needs to think carefully about her next words. "Did you talk to Nayeon about this?"

"No. Only you."

It's what she expected, but she's still surprised. "Why?"

"Because the moment Nayeon figures it out, it's over."

"...Oh?" 

Jeongyeon takes a deep breath and hates the words that come out of her mouth. "For as much as I hate to admit it, you are... the most reason-driven person in this group. Mina is too emotionally attached, the other three aren't as involved. I need your help, Sana." 

It's a genuine plea and Sana decides to put her emotions and grudges aside for once, and listen to what she has to say. "Okay. Explain me everything, and I'll help you."

Jeongyeon nods. "Thank you." She opens the journal. "First tell me, what do you know about The Vessel?" 

\--

Everyone is distracted tonight, Mina can tell.

Training with each other made the vampires get closer, and by now Mina is familiar with their moods and nuances. Dahyun looks down, Tzuyu isn't as excited about her legs anymore, and Sana is incredibly distracted.

It's worrying. 

She decides to take matters into her own hands. When Sana lunges to hit her, Mina spins away and turns her torso, managing to get a punch right on her nose.

Sana falls back on the grass with a loud yelp, surprised by the sudden hit. "Ouch!"

"Alright, what's wrong?" Mina asks. 

Dahyun and Tzuyu stop their own sparring match to watch; it was rare to see Mina getting a good hit like this on Sana.

"Good one." Sana scoffs, getting up. "But on the nose? Really? Hurts like a bitch!"

"If you were yourself tonight, you'd have blocked it." Mina responds. 

"If I had eaten before coming, maybe." Sana says, rubbing her nose.

Mina frowns. "You didn't eat?"

"My dinner... escaped." Sana lies. "But it's no biggie, I can eat afterwards."

"Sana, you can't come here with an empty stomach." Mina scolds her.

"Sorry, mom."

"Don't." 

Mina just sighs, then turns to the other two. "And you two! You're also not putting an effort into your training tonight. What's going on?"

Dahyun and Tzuyu look down, like children who were caught doing something wrong. "Sorry..."

Mina wonders if she does sound like a mom. 

She drops the stern façade and speaks calmly. "If there's something bothering you, you can share. We're supposed to be a team, right?" Dahyun and Tzuyu nod, but still keep quiet. Mina claps her hands. "Ok, let's take a break and chat."

Sana breathes out, preparing her lies. 

The four vampires sit at one of the countless wooden tables scattered across the park. Mina and Dahyun drink some water, just to break the ice, but the silence is awkward.

Mina speaks up after a moment. "So? Did something happen?"

Dahyun lets it out. "I'm just scared." 

Mina and Sana look at her, surprised. "Scared?"

Dahyun meets their gaze. "Well, yeah. The fight is drawing near each day. Am I not supposed to feel anxious?"

Tzuyu nods by her side and Mina blinks, a bit dizzy.

She's been so focused on training that she forgot to be scared. 

Every day was a mix of worrying about Nayeon, interacting with fans, dancing in front of cameras, smiling on TV and training to beat a ridiculously powerful vampire. Mina has been so overwhelmed by everything that she almost forgot that she could actually die in a few days. 

"I see." Mina says, biting her lower lip. "That's... understandable."

"Scared or not, we're doing this, so we better make the most of the time we have before the fight." Sana replies.

Dahyun shrinks on her seat and Tzuyu comes to her defense. "She's allowed to be scared." 

"She is. But I suggest she gets over it soon." Sana says.

Mina doesn't like her tone, and turns to her. "And what's your excuse, then? If you're not scared, what's distracting you?"

"Personal issues." Sana answers without looking at her. "But I'm over it. Let's go back." 

Sana is a master of stressing Mina out, but arguing with her would do them no good.

So, Mina channels her inner Buddha, and tries to have a peaceful conversation. "Sana, I really think we ought to have an honest dialogue instead of fighting right now."

"Suit yourselves." 

With this, Sana leaves the table, walking away. Mina needs all the self-restraint in the world not to yell at her.

"Fine, we don't need her." Mina says through her teeth and turns back to the other two. "Let's talk between us."

Dahyun laughs nervously. "She's scary, huh?" 

"She's... hard to deal with, yes." Mina rolls her eyes. "But back to you. You're scared of facing the Bitch."

Dahyun drops her shoulders. "Yeah. I mean, I don't think we'll ever be truly ready to fight someone this strong. If everything you guys told me about her is true..." 

It hits Mina that Dahyun is the only one there who never met Jihyo before. Tzuyu and Sana had been her retainers, and Mina had been part of her coven for a while. They were familiar with how scary Jihyo was.

But Dahyun was just a normal girl, suddenly thrown into this mess. 

Mina reaches out and covers Dahyun's hand with her own. "I know how scary everything is. But I want you to know how grateful we all are that you're willing to help us put an end to this terrible person. You and Chaeyoung are so, so brave."

Tzuyu smiles a little. "You are." 

Dahyun breathes out a chuckle. "Thanks for the nice words. I'm sorry I'm bringing you all down tonight, it's just... I guess it finally hit me, when I said my final goodbye to my cats yesterday."

"I understand." Tzuyu says. "I said goodbye to my stream, too." 

And it's stupidly silly, but Mina feels incredibly sad at this reveal. "You're not streaming anymore?"

Tzuyu tilts her head to the side, confused. "No...? I don't know if I'll survive the fight, so I decided to end it."

"Oh." Mina almost pouts. "That's unfortunate." 

Dahyun remembers something and laughs. "Wait, you watched Tzuyu's streams, didn't you?"

Mina feels embarrassed suddenly and averts her gaze. "S-sometimes."

"Oh, that's right! You're Cranberry!" Tzuyu remembers. "So much happened after that night that I forgot..." 

"It's n-no big deal, really." Mina feels hot on her cheeks.

"Oh, wait! I remembered something. Do you have a pen?"

Mina searches on her bag. "Here."

Tzuyu looks around and finds a big leaf on the ground. She takes it, then signs her name on it. "Here. An autograph."

"...Oh." 

It's such a simple, but thoughtful gesture, that Mina's eyes start to water. "H-huh? Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to—" She blinks the tears away, suddenly overwhelmed.

She used to watch Tzuyu's streams when she couldn't sleep. Before all this mess. When her life was normal. And maybe this small gesture is what reminds Mina of everything that's at stake.

Sana and Momo's eternal happiness.

Jeongyeon's peace of mind.

Tzuyu's redemption.

Nayeon's safety.

Mina's happy ending with someone who finally loves her back.

She finally feels scared. 

"I'll treasure it." Mina says over the lump in her throat, hugging the leaf close to her heart.

The fight was terrifying, but Mina had so much to live for. She would protect everyone involved, and she would do everything to get everyone out of this alive.

It was a promise. 

\--

Sana looks over her shoulder, checking her surroundings. When she's sure Mina had not followed her, she takes her phone and calls a certain someone.

The person picks up on the first ring. "Yes?"

"I don't like keeping such a huge secret from Mina." Sana rubs her temple. 

"We talked about this." Jeongyeon says on the other side. "The fewer people know about this, the better."

"I don't trust people easily, either, but this is too big to carry alone. As long as Nayeon doesn't know, things should be fine, right?" Sana tries to look for solutions. 

"The risk is too big. One wrong slip of the tongue could trigger the entire thing, and everything we worked for would be for naught." Jeongyeon still sounds tired. "Please, Sana, don't tell her anything."

Sana touches her back on a tree and slides down to the grass. "Fine." 

"We still need to deal with the main issue." Jeongyeon says.

"The timing, right?" Sana closes her eyes.

"Yes. We need to come up with an excuse to get Nayeon to be where she's supposed be, at the right time during the fight. She can't rush in."

"What a headache." Sana groans. 

"Tell me about it." Jeongyeon yawns. "I'm still trying to decode the rest of the journal, but the next parts are impossible to read. The handwriting isn't even my dad's, either."

"Could it be that someone else passed this journal to your dad?"

"Not one person. Several." 

Sana opens her eyes. "Many different handwritings?"

"Yes. Different codes, different words. Some parts might be even in different languages." Jeongyeon sounds frustrated. "It looks like some pages were glued to the journal, too. I don't think it's in chronological order." 

Sana hums, deep in thought. "I used to tell people to write journals about vampires. See what they could find. They all died, though." She sits up straight. "I never found their journals after they disappeared. What if they all compiled their findings in your dad's journal?" 

"Isn't that too unlikely? How would they know how to find the journal to put their findings before they died?" Jeongyeon asks.

"Maybe the person who killed them all compiled this big journal for us." Sana guesses. "Let's say, a big bitch. A huge encyclopedia for us to find." 

Jeongyeon breathes out a laugh. "A fail-safe in case her plans didn't work. Something to leave behind for the next attempt."

Sana smiles lazily. "If she wasn't such a horrible person, I'd almost commend her efforts."

"Fuck her." Jeongyeon yawns again.

"Go to sleep, Little Yoo." 

"I need to decode this." Jeongyeon says, voice numbed.

"You need to rest to be in top shape for the fight." Sana replies, for once without any teasing in her voice.

Jeongyeon grunts. "I will soon."

"Drink some tea. I heard it helps."

Jeongyeon is too tired to argue. "Okay." 

"I'll handle things from here."

"Alright."

"Goodnight." Sana says automatically and flinches. They were having such a normal conversation that for a second, Sana forgot the hunter hated her.

"...Night." But Jeongyeon replies all the same.

She hangs up and Sana smiles. 

\--

Chaeyoung sits in front of the fridge, one leg bouncing up and down nervously. Her hands are clasped tight together, sweaty. She's been biting her lower lip so much that it's bruised by now.

She has to make a decision tonight. She can't hide the fact that the blood bags arrived. The thing is, the moment she told everyone about it, they would start moving faster. Nayeon would probably order them to leave for the fight the very next day. Chaeyoung wasn't ready for this.

She frowns at her own thoughts. Nayeon would 'order' them?

Weird choice of words. 

"Well, she is the leader..." Chaeyoung mutters to herself, but the uncomfortable feeling lingers.

Regardless, they were all set for combat now. At least they pretended to be. Chaeyoung would never be ready. But she promised she would follow Tzuyu to the end, and she will. 

"Hng, why did this have to fall on my shoulders?!" Chaeyoung leans back and scratches her scalp with both hands, distressed. Her heart could explode at any second.

Then, the front door opens, and Chaeyoung's anxiety gets worse.

"We're home." Dahyun and Tzuyu say. 

They don't find Chaeyoung in the living room, so Tzuyu pops her head into the kitchen. "Hey, Chaengie."

"H-hey." Chaeyoung cleans her sweaty palms on her shorts. "How was your training?"

"It was less fighting and more talking today." Dahyun says with a chuckle. "...Uh, you ok?" 

"Yeah!" Chaeyoung realizes that she is lying and shrinks back on her chair. "No. I'm not okay, I'm stressed, I don't want to deal with this, but I have to because I promised, but I'm not ready."

"Woah, what's wrong?" Dahyun is by her side in seconds, one hand on her shoulder. 

With a sigh, the doctor points to the fridge. "The blood bags arrived. All forty."

It's like time stops inside the tiny kitchen. No one moves or dares to breathe – not like Dahyun and Tzuyu needed to. Chaeyoung's arms and legs tremble.

"That's... early." Dahyun mumbles. 

"Yeah." Is all Chaeyoung says. "We need... we gotta tell Nayeon and the others."

Dahyun's eyes are unfocused. "I g-guess."

Tzuyu grips the marble of the counter, just to feel something against her palm. Her roommates were so scared. They weren't even supposed to get involved. 

"Dahyun, Chaeng—" Tzuyu says, but is interrupted.

"If you're going to say something about us not coming with you, just don't." Chaeyoung's voice is shaky. "I promised, I'm going, we're saving you and everyone else. P-please, don't make this harder, Tzu."

Tzuyu drops her head. "Okay." She forces it out, because she hates this, but she can't stop them. Not anymore.

But it was okay, because she would protect them, no matter the cost.

"Well," Dahyun swallows hard. "Should we... text them?"

"We should." Chaeyoung replies. No one moves. 

For the first time in their lives, Chaeyoung and Dahyun felt death within reach. One text message would decide their fate, and it was their own choice.

Tzuyu was ancient and felt this many, many times before. A vampire who lost everything once already. But not them. 

Dahyun never had to think about this. She wasn't a war veteran, wasn't a war victim, has never been near a fight in her entire life.

She was a cat-sitter who liked to listen to video game soundtracks on her way to work and was afraid of butterflies. That was all. 

But if she was going to die, then the least she could do was take one last leap of faith and confess her feelings to the love of her entire life.

"Chaeng—" Dahyun says.

"Tzuyu—" Chaeyoung says at the same time.

Dahyun freezes.

_Oh._

Chaeyoung thought the same thing. 

"O-oh, sorry. What is it?" Chaeyoung asks, turning to her best friend.

Dahyun looks at her, taking in all the beauty and kindness that is Son Chaeyoung. The most beautiful person in Dahyun's universe. She smiles softly. "It's nothing. Go ahead."

Her heart splits in two. 

"...Okay." Chaeyoung smiles back, then turns to Tzuyu. "Before I send the message, can I talk to you?"

Tzuyu looks at both girls. Dahyun looks so incredibly tragic at that moment. She's confused. "Of course. What is it?"

Dahyun gets up. "I'll be in my room. Don't hold back!" 

The Golden leaves the kitchen with a playful wink and Chaeyoung blushes. Of course she knew. She couldn't hide anything from Dahyun.

Once they're alone, Chaeyoung gets up from her chair and walks towards the tall vampire. "I'm not going to lie, I am terrified. Of everything. But I'm doing this, because I want to help you. I want to free you from your ghosts, see your smile and hear your laughter, and know that you're finally living without being haunted by your past." Chaeyoung stops, inches away from her. "And... I want to go in without regrets." 

"Chaeng?" Tzuyu doesn't move. Being near Chaeyoung feels so good, so soothing. She's never felt this safe.

Her life had been a nightmare up until the day this little human found her on the street. Chaeyoung was her salvation, Tzuyu was certain of it.

"Close your eyes, Tzu." 

The last time someone asked her that, she woke up bound to a tyrant she never meant to obey. The last time someone asked her that, nothing but misfortune followed.

But she does it again. Not sure what to expect, but putting her heart in Chaeyoung's hands.

Soft lips cover hers. 

Tzuyu has faint memories of kissing her bondmate, centuries ago. Elkie's lips were soft as well, and back then, she liked to touch Tzuyu's heart when she did it. So, when Chaeyoung places her hand on top of Tzuyu's chest, in the same exact place, Tzuyu believes in reincarnation. 

Chaeyoung pulls back, falling back on her tiptoes, and Tzuyu's eyelids flutter open. The girl's face is hot and red and wonderful.

"I just need you to know—"

Tzuyu leans back down and kisses her again, cutting the sentence short. Chaeyoung inhales sharply, then melts. They kiss slowly, cherishing this moment that is not supposed to last. Chaeyoung's hand still touches her chest, while Tzuyu waves her fingers through her hair.

When they finally part, Tzuyu touches foreheads with her. "I'm so glad I survived to meet you again..." 

And there is an overwhelming amount of emotion that crushes Chaeyoung's heart at that moment. She cries, jumps on Tzuyu, hugging her like she never means to let her go.

"I love you, Tzu." She sobs on her neck. "Don't leave me again."

They’re both talking about different things, but Tzuyu just cries twice as hard. They stay like this, swaying in each other's arms for a long while. Eventually, Chaeyoung has to bring them back to reality. "We should probably text them, now."

Tzuyu likes feeling Chaeyoung's heartbeat against her skin. "Hmhmm." She mutters.

Chaeyoung smiles when they kiss. 

It's hard to let her go, but Tzuyu has to. The two then go to Dahyun's room, and knock on the door. "Dubs? Can we come in?"

"Y-yeah. Just a sec." Her voice sounds weak. Chaeyoung worries a bit.

When Dahyun opens the door, her eyes are red, like she's been crying. 

"What's wrong?" Chaeyoung reaches out to touch her best friend's cheek and Dahyun pulls back fast.

"N-nothing. Just— called my mom and all. It was a bit emotional." She tries to laugh it off. "So, you two good? Did you kiss and make up?" Joking around is the way she copes. 

"You could say that." Chaeyoung blushes with a smile that she can't contain, and Dahyun gets less scared of the pain Jihyo might inflict on her, because nothing could beat how much this hurts.

"Gay." Dahyun chokes it out. "So, should we text them?"

"Yes." Tzuyu nods. 

The three of them sit on Dahyun's bed as they watch Chaeyoung typing the message. As soon as it's done, she takes a deep breath, thumb hovering over the send button.

"Hey." Dahyun says before she sends it. "I love you two."

"I love you, too." Both say at the same time.

They send it. 

\--

Nayeon feels dirty for using this trick, but she needed a few days off work to fight a vampire without actually saying that she was going to fight a vampire.

"Oh, is that so..." Mr. Park says, solemnly. "My condolences."

Nayeon forces a tear. "Thank you. I'll miss granny." 

He turns on his chair and checks his computer. "We can move your schedules for next week, if it will help."

Nayeon cheers internally, but keeps the weak voice. "You would? Thank you so much, Mr. Park."

"No problem. I understand how hard it is." He's sincere and she feels bad. 

Mina places a warm hand on top of Nayeon's, like they practiced in the studio a few hours ago. A good partner, supporting her duo. "I'd like to go to the funeral, if that's ok."

Nayeon feigns surprise. "Y-yes, of course. I want to introduce you to granny."

Mr. Park almost sobs. 

And then, he says something that neither of them expected. "If it's not a problem, would you allow me to see your grandmother too?"

Nayeon and Mina freeze.

Shit.

"O-of course." Nayeon uses her improv skills. "But the funeral will be really far away..."

"Where?"

"Uh. Jeju." 

Mina turns her face slightly to the side, holding in the laughter with everything she had. It was so hard.

"Oh, well, that is quite far." Mr. Park scratches the back of his neck. "I'm afraid I can't make the trip so suddenly."

"I'll make sure to let granny know." Nayeon grins. 

After that, the two girls are dismissed. Mr. Park calls their manager to explain the situation and they leave the room. Nayeon forces another tear out as she walks down the corridor and Mina rubs her back.

Once they're in the bathroom, Mina wheezes. "Jeju??"

"I PANICKED." Mina keeps laughing and Nayeon slaps her shoulder. "Shut up, someone will hear you!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Mina finally controls herself. "I just— it's probably the last time I'll laugh this hard, and it's all because of you."

Nayeon frowns, upset. "Don't say things like that." 

The mood drops and Mina bites her lower lip. "Sorry. You're right, it won't be the last time."

"Yeah." Nayeon wraps her arms around herself. "If you die, I'll kill you."

"Technically I'm already dead..."

"God, shut up." Nayeon steps forward, placing a kiss on her mouth. 

Mina kisses her back, only for a moment, because it's so easy to get lost in the sensation. When Nayeon pulls back, Mina chuckles lowly. "Doing this at the company is risky."

"Fuck the company."

"I rather fuck other things."

Nayeon's ears get red. "Wha— now who's being risky?" 

A surge of fondness washes over Mina out of nowhere and she pulls Nayeon into a hug.

It's not the first time Nayeon notices that Mina is really warm for a walking corpse. Maybe that's what makes it so hard for her to remember the vampiric condition of her girlfriend. Nayeon sighs, burying herself deep into those arms she came to love so much, and feels her heart constricting.

The heaviness in her chest makes her want to push Mina away. It will hurt more, later.

That's what the voice told her back then. She hadn't told Mina about it. 

"Mina..." Nayeon mutters against her shoulder. "I need to tell you something."

"Yes?"

The silence had been nice up until that point, but now it was just crushing her. Nayeon opens her mouth, but stops. Was it now really the right time?

Maybe a little later.

"Later." 

And Mina, ever so understanding, just nods. "Okay."

They finally part and Nayeon sees that smile and can't help but to mirror it. She was going to tell her. Before the fight.

"I'll let them know we got a few days off." Mina grabs her phone, checking the group chat.

"Okay." 

\--

Sana is the most anxious she's been in a long time.

Momo wasn't around, she felt weird all the time, and now that they finally got the blood bags, all she wanted was to storm into that abandoned building and rip Jihyo's head off her shoulders.

And they would, in two days. 

She's waiting in the park, at their usual training grounds, when she hears someone approaching from behind. Sana doesn't even turn around.

"You're not gonna test your shiny toys on me again, are you?" Sana asks.

She can hear the smirk in Jeongyeon's voice. "Actually, I will." 

Sana jumps from her rock and gets into a fighting stance. "Nope!"

Jeongyeon raises an eyebrow. "Jumpy much?"

When Sana realizes that Jeongyeon isn't even armed, she drops her stance. "Asshole."

Jeongyeon almost chuckles, moving to the table. "Help me sort the weapons, Silver." 

In a few minutes, the team would meet at the park, including Nayeon and Chaeyoung. After gathering the most useful weapons and traps, Jeongyeon would finally teach them how to use everything correctly without hurting each other in the process.

And they would have to learn fast. 

The reason Sana was there so early in the evening was to discuss something with the hunter.

"So, any luck decoding the rest?" Sana asks as they place different devices on top of the picnic table.

"None." Jeongyeon sighs. "But I figured out what to do with Nayeon."

"Oh?" 

"And where to place Chaeyoung." Jeongyeon doesn't lift her eyes as she speaks, but Sana watches her movements. "And how to use Dahyun and Tzuyu's speed."

"Look at you, playing chess with vamps." Sana teases, grabbing a shiny cylinder. "What's this?"

"Bomb."

"Ah." Sana puts the bomb away very carefully and reaches out to grab another weird device.

When she's about to touch it, Jeongyeon grabs her wrist. "Not this one. It's coated in silver."

The gesture surprises Sana. "Did you just... save me—"

"Don't get the wrong idea." 

Sana hides a smirk. "Whatever you say, Little Yoo."

"And stop calling me that. It's obnoxious." Jeongyeon turns around to grab more guns.

"Is it? Or are you just afraid of letting nicknames deepen our bond beyond your comfort zone?"

"I will spray garlic powder on you." 

Sana finally laughs a bit. "So uptight."

Jeongyeon just grunts and wishes the others would arrive quickly. She doesn't want to waste the little emotional energy that's left in her by caring about this Silver.

She didn't even want to care about the rest, but it's too late now. 

Eventually the others arrive. Nayeon and Mina come together, and Sana promptly teases them. Jeongyeon rolls her eyes but doesn't feel as bothered as she once did. Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu arrive as well, the three holding hands. Jeongyeon has to admit that it's adorable. 

Dahyun is the first to notice the shiny devices covering the table. She points. "What's! That!"

Nayeon, thinking it was a spider, hides behind Mina. "KILL IT."

"She means the weapons." Mina explains.

"Ah."

They were still such a mess, Jeongyeon thinks. Oh, well. 

"These are the things we'll use to kill the Bitch." Jeongyeon walks behind the table to show each and every device to everyone. "Today you'll all learn how to use them. Then, we'll discuss when we'll use them."

Everyone just nods, attentive. Jeongyeon grins. Maybe a tiny mess. 

She starts with the basics. Stake guns, nets, garlic powder. The devices covered in silver were for Nayeon and Chaeyoung's protection, so she gives them to the humans. Then, she moves to more complicated contraptions. Tzuyu and Dahyun are needed for this part. 

After her explanation, Jeongyeon turns to Sana. "Now, my strategy."

Sana frowns. "Huh?"

Jeongyeon crosses her arms. "We'll make a small simulation. Sana will be our target."

Oh, so that's what she meant earlier.

Sana grits her teeth. "Great." But relents. "Come at me." 

\--

It's nearly sunrise when the team manages to finally catch Sana. The Silver drops on the grass, wrapped on the net, and whines. "It burns!"

Jeongyeon is the one who caught her after Tzuyu, Dahyun and Mina did their part. It was a choreographed stunt that worked in the end. 

After releasing her, Jeongyeon sits on the grass breathing heavily. "It worked..."

Everyone else was exhausted. Chaeyoung and Nayeon drop to their knees as well, swallowing hard. "Is this... is this plan gonna work?"

Jeongyeon nods. "It has too." 

And then, Dahyun starts to laugh. The others look at her, confused, but the Golden just laughs harder. "We did it... we worked together like a team!"

Perhaps it was how tired they all were, but one by one, they all broke in a laughing fit with her as well.

They did it. 

Jeongyeon just stares at the chaos around her and shows a tiny smile. They weren't perfect, and she knew things wouldn't work out like this at the real battle, but for once, their entire team seemed to be in sync.

The laughter around her sounded familiar, too. 

"We'll be back here tonight for one last simulation." Sana finally breaks the nice atmosphere, sitting back up. "Then, we're going for it." She looks at Nayeon. "Right?"

Nayeon looks back, feels her resolve of steel, and nods. "Yes. It's finally time."

At long last. 

Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu finally gather their things and leave, bidding everyone goodbye. They needed to be ready.

Before Mina and Nayeon could go home as well, Jeongyeon calls for them. "Nayeon, wait. We have something special for you in mind. Will you listen?"

She does. 

\--

It's been almost a month since the last time the vampires from Jihyo's coven had seen their leader. No one questioned it, of course, but rumors went around as they always did. Questions of whether she was traveling, or sleeping somewhere else.

The truth is, she was waiting. 

Jihyo would leave the coven in the afternoon, when Silvers slept and Goldens walked about, and go to the abandoned building. And then, she'd wait there.

After chasing the hunter out of the building that time, she was sure the message had been sent. They would come to her. 

Jihyo didn't mind waiting for a bit longer. Not when her entire existence had been nothing but a battle of patience and control.

She would wait there, sitting down on the dirty rubble for the entire night. And every time the sun rose again, and no one had come, she'd leave. 

Rinse and repeat.

She wondered if tonight would be the night. Jihyo tilted her head to look around the painted walls, noticing that the paint had faded a little as time went by. Probably due to the sun.

But it did not matter. She would hopefully understand it, still. 

\--

The most romantic thing about Mina was how she managed to look at Nayeon like _that_ even though this was their last day together.

Since granny's funeral had been a lie, both girls spent a lazy afternoon on the couch of Nayeon's house, lying down and holding each other close. 

"Say... do you have parents?" Nayeon mutters, touching Mina's collarbones gently.

"I had to come from somewhere, right?" Mina mutters back with a tiny chuckle.

"You know what I mean."

"I do. They're in Japan."

"Oh. I see." Nayeon kisses her neck. "Do you miss them?" 

"Yes." Mina replies in a monotone.

"When was the last time you called them?"

"Hmm... two months ago, I think."

Nayeon keeps quiet for a moment, staring down at Mina's shirt. "That's a long time ago."

"I suppose." Mina caresses her girlfriend's hair. "What about you?" 

"I have a mom. My dad kinda bailed." Nayeon replies.

"Sorry to hear that."

"It's ok. He was a jerk." Nayeon smiles for some reason. "It's not thanks to him I became part of the hottest idol duo in Korea."

Mina laughs with her. "Take that, dad."

Nayeon's heart skips a beat. 

"Does your mom live in Seoul?" Mina places her chin on top of Nayeon's head, closing her eyes.

"Nope." Nayeon then smiles against her neck. "Can you guess where she lives?"

Mina hums. "Busan...?"

Nayeon shakes her head. "Nope."

"Where?"

"Jeju."  
  
Mina laughs loudly and hugs her closer. "That's why the funeral was so far away."

"My grandma actually passed away a long time ago. I feel bad for using that as an excuse." Nayeon closes her eyes, buried into Mina.

"If you apologize, I'm sure she'll understand." Mina says.

"Sorry, granny." 

The quietness is comfortable. Being in Mina's arms like this, without a world crisis heavy on their shoulders for once, feels nice. Nicer than anything Nayeon has ever felt.

"Have you talked to your mom lately?" Mina asks, breaking the calm atmosphere.

"No."

"Why?" 

Nayeon sighs, not sure how to explain it. "Because if I do, I'll cry. And I don't want my mom's last image of me—" The words get caught in her throat. "Ah, see? Just thinking about it m-makes me sob. Goddammit."

Mina pulls back a little to look at her. Nayeon is crying. 

"Hey." Mina says gently, wiping Nayeon's tears with her thumbs. "It's okay. You don't have to call her." She smiles, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "You'll see her again, anyway. We'll leave this fight safe and sound."

Nayeon laughs between a sob. "I love your optimism." 

Mina's gaze softens. "Yeah? What else do you love about me?"

"Your little moles. And your face in general, I guess." Nayeon sniffs, rubbing her eyes. "And how strong you are. I love how you're kind, and how you fight for the happiness of those you love, no matter what. Even if they kick you down, like a certain one-armed Silver." Nayeon chuckles.

Mina rolls her eyes. "She's insufferable." But then she mumbles. "But she deserves to be happy with the one she loves. Like I am right now."

Nayeon stops sobbing and looks at Mina. 

And if there's any good moment to spill it, it's now. The words are floating in the air between them, they've been for a while. Nayeon just needs to be brave enough to say it.

She opens her mouth, then feels the voice waking up in her chest. Holding her back.

_'It'll hurt you.'_

Nayeon stops, her heart almost bursting out of her chest. She feels like she's fighting against herself. It's so tiring.

 _'You're the one who said that love is the most powerful weapon.'_ Nayeon yells in her mind, and feels the voice's surprise. _'So fuck off.'_

"I love you, Mina."

Mina widens her eyes. "You—"

Nayeon pushes forward, kissing her. She feels Mina flinching, surprised, but then melting into her, kissing her back. One of Mina's arms slide across her back, pulling Nayeon on top of her as she rolls on the couch.

The voice, finally silenced. 

\--

That night, they go over their strategy once more.

No one jokes around. No one trembles. They are finally 100% focused as a team.

Dahyun and Tzuyu are faster than ever. Mina doesn't take a single hit. Chaeyoung and Nayeon watch, pointing out some improvements.

It's flawless. 

\--

Jihyo leans against the furthest concrete wall, eyes closed, waiting. Always waiting.

The silence is very comforting. It's rare, the times her mind calms down enough for her to rest. She likes the building because of that.

Then, a sound. Steps, crunching leaves, getting closer. 

Jihyo only opens her silver eye when the sounds stop. It's not dark out tonight. The full moon is so bright that she can see it all.

The humans and vampires on the other side can see her, too.

There are six of them in front of her. Two humans, four vampires. 

Jihyo's eye moves, searching.

Jeongyeon gives one more step. "She's not here."

Jihyo looks at her, unwavering. She doesn't say a word.

Sana moves to Jeongyeon's side, her own eyes looking around, searching for—

"She's not here." Jihyo says, a ghost of a smirk on her face. 

Sana growls, showing her fangs. "Where is she? What did you do to Momo?"

This was bad. Jeongyeon trusted Sana when she said that Momo would be by Jihyo's side. Momo never left her. Where was she, then?

Jeongyeon places a hand on Sana's arm. "She's toying with you." 

"And you're toying with me." Jihyo says, taking one step forward. Her aura alone is so raw and terrifying that Jeongyeon's hand starts to tremble. It was the same feeling she felt when she found the abandoned building. "So let's bring out our toys soon, shall we?"

Jihyo closes her eyes and reaches behind her head, untying her eye-patch. She drops it on the floor.

Upon opening her eyes again, they both shine. Pale silver, and warm gold.

Jeongyeon takes a device from her pocket. Pressing a button, it expands into a silver trident. 

The stillness in the air is so heavy that the building could come crumbling down at the tiniest movement. At least that's how it felt.

Jihyo finally shows her fangs in a wicked smirk. "Let's see if your blood tastes as delicious as your parents'."

Jeongyeon gives the order.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on twitter @niigoki_


	15. Chapter 15

It happens, quite literally, all too fast.

Dahyun and Tzuyu boost themselves, the wind rustling against Jeongyeon's hair as they bolt past her in an inhuman speed. Jihyo apparently didn't expect that, blinking and flinching when something hits her feet. Small metal bars. 

Dahyun and Tzuyu then reach the concrete wall behind Jihyo and turn around, kicking it to boost themselves again. Side by side, they run past Jihyo one more time, shooting more metal bars. Jihyo tries to move, but the bars are glued to her.

They were trying to slow her down. 

As this goes on, Sana grabs Chaeyoung by the waist and leaves the building. Jihyo tries to follow her with her eyes, but Jeongyeon is right in her face as soon as she tilts her head.

The hunter twirls her trident fast and Jihyo has to move back. "Eyes on me." Jeongyeon growls. 

Dahyun and Tzuyu keep running around like annoying flies, shooting metal bars everywhere they can possibly reach. Jihyo's legs are almost entirely covered by them, making it hard for her to dodge as fast as she'd like to.

Jihyo uses her arms to block Jeongyeon's trident. She hisses when her flesh makes contact with the silver, wincing ever so slightly. Jeongyeon smirks, pressing another button on her trident. A sharp blade comes out on the other end of the weapon.

Jeongyeon tries to slice Jihyo's torso, but the vampire backflips away. 

She doesn't get far, though. Right behind her is Mina, who managed to get past her without her noticing. Tzuyu and Dahyun weren't just running around to shoot stuff at her – their noise as they kicked the columns and the grass was also a distraction. Jihyo couldn't hear well. 

"Hey, bitch." Mina says before shooting her own weapon, glued to Jihyo's torso.

Unfortunately, the moment Mina took to say her sentence was enough for Jihyo to crouch, kicking her legs. Mina grunts, falling on her back, and Jihyo grabs her by the neck, using her as a shield. 

Tzuyu and Dahyun don't stop running, but they do stop shooting. Jeongyeon freezes on her spot, her twirls ceasing. Jihyo has Mina right in front of her and she grins at Jeongyeon's slight desperation.

"What's wrong, hunter? I won't move. Slice through her and you got me." 

Jeongyeon grits her teeth, knuckles white as she holds the trident strongly.

With time to spare now that the hunter stopped, Jihyo bends down, removing the metal bars from her legs. Those two annoying flies had caught her by surprise. Not again.

Suddenly, a yell from above. 

Jihyo feels two things at once: someone cutting the arm that was holding Mina, then kicking her in the chest. She flies to the concrete wall behind her, blood flowing from the stub.

All Sana says after cleaning her hand is "Look. We match." 

Mina rolls back, coughing. Jihyo's grasp on her neck had been way too strong.

"You okay?" Jeongyeon asks without tearing her eyes from Jihyo.

"Y-yeah. Sorry—"

"It's ok. Heads up."

Jihyo growls, the pain finally seeping through her bones. When she looks at Sana, she's mad. 

Dahyun and Tzuyu start shooting again. Sana kicks the ground to get another hit on her goddamn boss. Mina finds her gun again, ready to shoot.

Jihyo tilts her head back and lets out a blood-curling scream. "NOW!"

Someone jumps from the shadows, tackling Sana to the ground. She grunts as she hits the dirt, ready to tear whoever was on top of her apart.

But she knows this hold. This smell. The weight. Everything.

When she opens her eyes, she sees the one person that's always on her mind. She missed her so much. But what was happening?

"Momo...?" 

And it's one sentence. Just one sentence is all it takes. If Jihyo wanted to take Sana out, there was only one thing she needed to do. And she did.

She actually did it.

The words leak through Momo's mouth. "Do I know you?"

 _Ah_ , Sana thinks. _That's what death feels like._

There was no time to pay attention to whatever was happening with Sana and the other Silver. Jeongyeon needed to think of a plan B, and fast. Sana was their most powerful card, and she was out.

"Mina, shoot her when I give you the signal." Jeongyeon mutters.

Mina nods. Jeongyeon then sprints, pointing the blade at Jihyo as she yells to catch her attention. Jihyo stares at her like she's a pathetic bug and moves away. But this time, she's fast.

Faster than they had anticipated.

With a single move, Jihyo grabs one of Tzuyu's legs. "Enough." 

Before Tzuyu can think, Jihyo's grip tightens on the hard prosthetic. It cracks, then it breaks like it's made of glass. Tzuyu stumbles forward, falling face-first on the dirt. Jihyo grabs her by the chin. "You should've stayed on that alley."

Dahyun sprints. "Tzu!" 

Jihyo doesn’t even looking at the Golden running to her. Dahyun tries to kick her away from Tzuyu, but Jihyo simply moves like water, fast and nimble. She grabs Dahyun by the throat, and finally turns to look at her, slowly. "Interrupting is rude." 

Jeongyeon tries to approach them, but Jihyo simply tosses Dahyun on her, making both fall to the ground. Tzuyu grunts, trying to get up with her one remaining leg.

Jihyo looks at her. She brings her knee high, then her foot down, smashing the other leg.

"No!" Tzuyu cries. 

Mina's hands are shaking. She aims the gun, not sure of what to do. Sana doesn't respond anymore, with Momo still holding her on the ground. Tzuyu's legs are broken. Dahyun is clearly out of her game, and Jeongyeon can't fight her alone.

Should she shoot? What should she do? 

"SANA, GET A FUCKING GRIP!" Mina yells so loudly that her throat hurts.

Jihyo turns to her, now. Mina is terrified.

She was going to die.

"I came all this way for YOU!" Mina keeps yelling, tears on her face. "All I ever wanted was YOUR HAPPINESS! And I will DIE for it! SANA!" 

Dahyun and Jeongyeon are finally up again. They jump on Jihyo, who avoid them easily. She kicks Dahyun's ribs, and they crack so loudly that it echoes through the concrete. Dahyun flies to the wall and Jihyo keeps moving.

"SANA, PLEASE!" Mina aims, hands trembling. "I need YOU!" 

Tzuyu drags herself through the dirt, trying to accomplish something, anything. Dahyun isn't responding. Jeongyeon yells again, tossing her trident. Jihyo grabs it, winces at the burning sensation, but breaks the metal with one hand. She punches Jeongyeon’s face.

"Sana..." Mina sobs. 

Jeongyeon has a broken nose, and she's dizzy.

Jihyo finally reaches Mina.

Before Mina can pull the trigger, Jihyo slaps the gun away from her hand. She grabs her by the neck once more, lifting her up.

"Is this it?" Jihyo says. "That's all you can accomplish?" 

Mina tries to kick, punch, remove the vicious grip from her throat. Jihyo is too strong.

Then, she feels Jihyo's hand trembling. It's barely noticeable, but it's there. Mina opens her eyes and notices that Jihyo's golden eye is flickering.

"Was I wrong?" Jihyo whispers. 

The glow returns to normal and Jihyo's grip tightens. It hurts too much.

"Sa...na..." Mina tries in one last choke.

Out of nowhere, a blood bag falls right on top of Jihyo's head. Jihyo stops for a second. "Wha—"

Then, she's tackled to the other side of the building by a really angry vamp. 

In all her years, Jihyo has never seen Sana's eyes glow so strongly. They were burning white.

"You took... EVERYTHING from me..." The blood bag slides from Jihyo's head and Sana bites into it, feeding before her next bloody words. "You WON'T take anymore." Sana turns around, holding Jihyo in front of her. "MINA, NOW!"

Mina doesn't have time to catch her bearings. She finds the gun she dropped, and finally shoots. The net flies, trapping both vampires in a tight hold.

"JEONGYEON!" Sana screams again.

Jeongyeon runs with a stake. 

"NAY!!" With one last yell, Sana tears into Jihyo's neck with her teeth, blood gushing on her face.

Nayeon rolls from where she was hiding in plain sight, just under a pile of rubble. With a silver knife, she screams and buries it on the hole Sana made with her bite, slicing it. 

At the same time, Jeongyeon shoves her stake right on Jihyo's heart. Nayeon finishes slicing her head off, and it falls on the floor with a horrid thud.

The silence afterwards is jarring.

No one dares to move.

Nayeon has blood all over her and she trembles. Sana's energy is completely drained, and she drops herself and Jihyo's headless body on the floor.

Mina is still sobbing. "Is it... over...?"

Jeongyeon breathes heavily, the stake still lodged into Jihyo. "I d-don't... I don't know."

Sana spits Jihyo's blood. "It is." 

Mina finally presses the button that removes the net from them and falls on her knees. "She didn't turn into dust..."

"She's half Golden." Jeongyeon swallows hard. "I don't think she would."

Nayeon's eyes are unfocused. Sana throws Jihyo's body away from her. "Fuck." 

Mina crawls all the way to Sana. "W-where is Momo?"

"I knocked her out." A small tear falls from Sana's eye. "She'll wake up soon."

Mina doesn't know what to say, so she searches for the others. "Dahyun? Tzuyu? Are you ok?"

Tzuyu has dragged herself to Dahyun's side. "Y-yes." 

Then, Mina looks up and yells. "Chaeng? You okay up there?"

"I g-guess!" Chaeyoung yells back from the upper floor where Sana had taken her. "Did you... kill her?"

Mina looks back at Jihyo's headless body. "...Y-yeah."

Tzuyu and Dahyun slowly join them. They were alive. 

Mina allows herself to relax, after nothing happens for a few minutes. She smiles a little, looking at Nayeon. "We did it..."

But Nayeon doesn't respond. She's frowning.

Mina touches her shoulder. "Nayeon?"

"Something is missing." Nayeon says. "There's something missing." 

Nayeon gets up and walks away from them. Jeongyeon follows her with her gaze, too tired to get up. "What do you mean? You killed her. You're the one who beheaded her."

Nayeon doesn't answer. She finally takes her time to look around the symbols painted on the walls. She tries to find meaning in them, but nothing makes sense. She's never seen those symbols before. Nayeon walks around, and notices that not only the walls were painted, but the columns are as well.

"What did you want me to see..." Nayeon whispers to herself, walking backwards. 

She stops when she gets to the entrance of the building and sees something on the floor.

A tiny X was painted there.

"X marks the spot..." Nayeon steps on top of the X, checking the columns and walls. Still didn't make sense.

Not with both her eyes open. 

"The eye... you had to hide it from the eye..." Nayeon closes her left eye. And finally, the columns align in right angles. The symbols come together, forming a sentence.

T A K E

  
T H E

  
E Y E

Nayeon finally understands. A chill goes down her spine. "GUYS, MOVE!" 

A black ooze starts dripping from Jihyo's neck and stump, flowing like it had life of its own. It connects to her head on the floor and her arm on the other side.

Everyone jumps away when Jihyo's body starts to move.

Everyone but one.

Jihyo's arm goes through Tzuyu's torso. 

"TZUYU!" Both Dahyun and Chaeyoung yell at the same time, but the horrifying spectacle in front of them freeze them to the core.

The black ooze drags Jihyo's head back to its place, as well as her severed arm. The noise is disgusting.

In seconds, Jihyo is back up. 

Nayeon stares at the monster in front of her, and finally remembers.

They fucked up. She should've removed the eye when she had the chance.

Jihyo's gaze falls on Nayeon. Her voice is guttural when she speaks. "You failed again."

Nayeon knows. She's going to die now. 

Before any of them can move again, Jihyo runs.

Nayeon thinks that she hears Mina screaming, but everything is blurred. Her body moves without her consent, avoiding the hit at the absolute last moment.

"Help me!" Nayeon yells at her team. They needed to act.

It was not too late. 

Hearing Nayeon's plea for help wakes something up inside all of them. Their legs move again. They had to save her. Mina takes a metal ball from her pocket and throws it at Jihyo, who grabs it with one hand without tearing her eyes off Nayeon. Then, the ball explodes. 

Jihyo's growl is almost feral at the loss of her hand, but she doesn't turn around. The golden eye chases Nayeon as she tries to hide and Jihyo runs again. Before she can reach her, Sana tackles Jihyo to the side with such speed that they destroy one of the columns. 

Jeongyeon runs to them, yelling orders over her shoulder. "Dahyun, get Tzuyu to Chaeyoung!"

Dahyun was already holding her dear friend close and nods, hands trembling. She winces and jumps to the upper floor, landing in front of her best friend. Chaeng's teary eyes meet hers. 

And the flame inside Dahyun burns up strongly as soon as their eyes meet.

Jihyo would not take away her happiness.

Her eyes flicker, the golden color exploding into shiny stars.

"Take care of her." Dahyun's voice is stable, confident.

"I—" Chaeng is interrupted by a kiss. 

Dahyun pulls back, grabs two blood bags, and drinks from them faster than she's ever done. With one last smile and a caress to Chaeyoung's cheek, she jumps down again. Chaeyoung licks her lips out of instinct, but shakes her head. She would think about it after healing Tzuyu. 

Back at the fight zone, Sana and Jeongyeon struggle to keep Jihyo at bay. Mina sticks close to Nayeon in case that monster sprints again. Jihyo's voice is deep and sounds nothing like her when she screams. The black ooze returns, healing Jihyo's hand, and she holds Sana's arm. 

Jeongyeon takes a dagger from inside her boot, ready to slice Jihyo's arm off as many times as it takes, but before she can reach her, Jihyo twists her torso away.

Jihyo scratches Jeongyeon's face and kicks her away. The air is knocked out of the hunter's lungs. 

"Jeong!" Mina yells.

The left side of Jeongyeon's face is bleeding, and she can feel the poisonous scratch numbing her senses. Dizzy, but not too dizzy to think, Jeongyeon takes a pill from inside her glove. She bites on it, the bitter taste flooding her tongue. She tries to sit back up, but her chest feels heavy when she breathes. She can't open her left eye or move her mouth properly.

She was probably done fighting. All she could do was throw the rest of her weapons in Mina's direction, hoping she would use them now. 

Jihyo's grasp on Sana's arm is strong and she turns her body in a circular motion, using the momentum to throw Sana away from her. Finally free, Jihyo returns to her number one priority. She sprints again.

Mina buries her feet on the ground, ready for impact. 

Nothing comes, however.

A wind blows past her, tackling Jihyo away once more. Mina chases it with her eyes and gapes when she sees that Dahyun had managed to stick a knife in Jihyo's neck.

"DIE!" Dahyun snarls, her legs taking them both to the opposite wall. 

Jihyo gargles on her blood when they hit the concrete; dust floats around them and the building shakes at the impact.

There's no time for recovery. Jihyo's hands cover Dahyun's and she slowly pulls the knife out.

"Get... out." Jihyo grunts, then breaks Dahyun's wrists. 

Dahyun screams at the pain, but the glow in her eyes never fade. They get stronger as she stares at the woman in front of her with the anger of a thousand lifetimes.

"F-fuck you." Dahyun spits, using her legs to jump away. "SANA!"

Sana jumps from above, slicing Jihyo's arms. 

Dahyun was just buying time. Jihyo yells again.

Sana doesn't have much time. She needs to take her head again before the black ooze returns, but she was running out of fuel after struggling for so long.

"CHAEYOUNG!" Sana yells and a blood bag falls right in her mouth. Sana moves her arm as she drinks, ready to behead the monster, but Jihyo stops her with a bite of her own.

She buries her teeth on Sana's arm and it hurts more than she expected. They stare at each other through mad eyes, then Jihyo tears the flesh with her strong jaw. Sana's arm is torn up from her elbow and she screeches. Jihyo spits it out, blood all over her chin and clothes.

Before she can kick Sana away, Sana moves to the side on her own. Mina is right behind her, holding Dahyun's dagger. She yells and buries it on Jihyo's neck again. 

"Slice her head off!" Nayeon screams, running towards them at her slow, human speed.

Mina tries. She grunts as the knife does its work.

But she's not fast enough.

The black ooze pours from Jihyo's arms, connecting the stumps back.

"MINA!" Sana yells, tackling her away. 

Something makes an ungodly noise. It's the noise of flesh being pierced and bones cracking. The same noise they heard when Jihyo hurt Tzuyu.

Mina falls back. Opening her eyes, she expected to see Sana's last stand.

But what she sees instead is Jihyo's hand through Momo. 

And this makes Jihyo stop. She widens her eyes, her arm warm with Momo's blood. She can feel her insides.

Momo gasps. She had tackled Sana way from Jihyo at the very last moment. She had taken the blow for her.

"Y-you... promised..." Momo stutters.

Jihyo's silver eye blurs. She slowly shakes her head. She hears someone yelling, and she knows what her body is about to do.

With a single tear escaping her silver eye, she mouths something to Momo.

_'I'm sorry.'_

Before she can stop herself, Jihyo turns, her other arm piercing Sana's torso too. 

"NO!" Mina's voice breaks as she gets up.

Dahyun is frozen on her spot. Nayeon stops running as Jihyo places both vampires down with care. Nothing like the monster she was a few seconds ago.

Jihyo's expression is solemn as she stares down at them.

It has to be now. 

Nayeon takes Mina's dagger from her hand and jumps on Jihyo, who wasn't looking at her. Mina blinks, frowns, then realizes what had happened. "Nayeon, no!"

Jihyo looks up.

She stops Nayeon's hand before the knife can pierce her eye. The two stare at each other in silence. 

"Fight it." Nayeon says in a low voice.

"Move... away..." Jihyo's voice is back to normal for a brief moment.

"No. Fight it. I know you can do this."

Jihyo's golden eye starts shining once more as another tear runs down her silver eye. "Please..."

"Fight it, Jihyo." 

Jihyo can't fight it.

She brings her arm back, ready to tear Nayeon to pieces.

But Mina drags Nayeon away before she can do it. Both fall on the ground, but Jihyo is close to them in seconds. She takes Mina by the shirt, throws her to the other side, and steps on Nayeon. 

But Mina is back in the blink of an eye. She jumps on Jihyo's back and scratches her face, where the golden eye rests. Jihyo, not expecting the girl to return so fast, grabs her once more, throwing her over her shoulder.

But Mina comes back again. Over and over again. 

Jihyo is tired of this pest.

She takes Mina by the neck and shoves her into the ground. The foot that was on Nayeon now rears back, and goes down on Mina's left leg.

Mina yells.

Then, Jihyo smashes her right leg.

Mina yells once more.

"Stay down." Jihyo says. 

Jihyo turns back to Nayeon. She's up, away from Jihyo, but still close enough for her to reach with a single step.

Something grabs Jihyo's ankle.

It's Mina.

"Get away... from her..." Mina's voice is weak. Pathetic. She's crawling, unable to walk, but still protecting Nayeon. 

Blood bags fall. Mina tries to bite into them, but Jihyo kicks them away. Mina uses her remaining strength to climb Jihyo's legs.

"You want to die so badly." Jihyo helps Mina up by pulling her arm. She looks like a rag doll.

"For her... I will." Mina coughs and smiles. 

Before Jihyo can end her suffering, Dahyun jumps on her shoulders. "Keep underestimating Goldies in love, see what happens."

And with the strength of her arms, Dahyun shoves the tiny bomb she was carrying down Jihyo's shirt. Mina does the same with hers.

The explosion is loud. 

Mina and Dahyun fly to opposite sides. Jihyo's upper half lands near Nayeon. Her legs fly to where Jeongyeon is lying, still recovering.

Mina hits her head on the wall and faints. Dahyun's body hits the rubble and it hurts. She can't feel her legs.

 _Oh._ She thinks. 

Nayeon opens her eyes and tries to get her bearings. The loud explosion had definitely deafened her for a moment. Maybe for life. Who knows. She sits back up, nauseated. Then, she sees what's left of Jihyo close to her leg.

Nayeon crawls to her and cups her face in hands. Jihyo's eyes flutter open. Of course she wasn't dead.

Nayeon moves her thumb and index finger to where the golden eye rests. "It's over. Rest now."

Jihyo opens her mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. She manages to touch Nayeon's face with a trembling, gentle hand. 

Jihyo lowers her arm. A final gesture.

The moment Nayeon feels the pain on her left side, she plucks the golden eye out.

Jihyo's nails, buried inside her ribs, stop moving. Her arm falls. Nayeon falls with it, golden eye in hand. It's hard to breathe.

"Bitch." Nayeon coughs. 

Nayeon feels the poison working its way up. Once it reaches her heart, she will die.

Everything feels so heavy. She's so tired.

 _'Do it.'_ The voice is back. _'You have the eye. Quick.'_

Nayeon's eyelids flutter. "What's... even... the point..." She coughs. It hurts so bad. 

_'You can't give up now. Not after everything.'_ The voice is so angry, but she's not strong enough to take over Nayeon's limbs.

"Everyone... is dead..." She feels like she's floating. Is this what death feels like? "I don't care..."

"Don't you DARE." Suddenly, Chaeyoung speaks loudly. 

She sounds so far away. Above her head.

"Don't you DARE die on us." Chaeyoung's voice is weak. Fragile, like her heart. Like the girl slowly dying in her arms. "We gave everything, _everything_ up for you. For _ages_ we've been following you. Now, you have to _live_ , Im Nayeon!" 

And perhaps it's the sound of a human voice, pleading so desperately, that wakes Nayeon up.

_'Vampires gave up their immortality for you. Humans gave up their short lives for you. Are you really going to selfishly discard their sacrifices?'_

"...No." She cries. "I won't." 

With one last breath, Nayeon forces her arm to move. Slowly, she holds onto the eye like a lifeline. It would be bad if she dropped it. Nayeon grunts. Her voice gets louder as the eye gets closer to her own left, normal one.

Then, she pushes the golden eye in. 

The pain is worse than anything she has ever felt. The eye moves inside her eye socket, removes the old one, and Nayeon is sure she will go mad before dying.

But then, it stops. A wave of relief washes over her as a white light embraces her soul. At least that's how it feels.

She feels whole again. 

After the eye ceases moving, Nayeon feels another transformation. Her skin crawls, fixing the wound left by Jihyo. It closes on its own, completely healed. Every bit of pain leaves her new body.

Then, she opens her eyes.

One gold, one silver. 

It's weird. Nayeon knows she'll have to get used to this, but leaving her humanity behind after millennia was not something she was ready to accept so easily.

She touches her teeth with her tongue. Yep, a bit pointier than expected. Then, she touches her chest. No heartbeat. There was a slight, pulsating pain where her golden eye was. It was trying to get to her brain and flood her with information that she already knew. Trying to wake her up for good.

But Nayeon shuts it down for now. She would worry about herself later. She turns to her friends. 

Even without a heartbeat, her chest hurts. Looking around, she doesn't know where to start, who to reach first.

She decides to bring everyone together.

Nayeon jumps to the upper floor easily, landing in front of Chaeyoung and Tzuyu. Chaeyoung is speechless. "You..."

"Yeah. Chaeng, can I touch you?" Nayeon asks.

The doctor doesn't quite understand the question, but nods. Nayeon kneels to be eye-level with her, and touches her cheek.

A sudden rush of information floods Chaeyoung's brain. Memories that had been locked away, returning. Chaeyoung sees a castle, then a temple, a forest, a village, a lake, a bridge, a small town, a big town, another temple. Places she lived, places she's been to.

But not on this life. In all of them, she sees people around her. Lives she shared with them, over and over again. 

And she sees Nayeon, always leading her. And in moments, Chaeyoung sees herself healing her. Many, many times. She's always been a healer of sorts.

Chaeyoung swallows hard, stumbling back after everything. "We..."

Tzuyu coughs behind them, and Nayeon goes to her next. Tzuyu can't speak, and the hole in her chest doesn't seem to be any better than before. She's suffering without relief.

Chaeyoung looks at her, and cries. "Tzuyu..."

Nayeon doesn't touch her. She turns to Chaeyoung, voice hoarse. "Jihyo's poison is too strong." 

Chaeyoung doesn't want to hear it. She knows, because she remembers, but still, she doesn't want to believe it. "You can heal her. I know you can. Nayeon... please..." Chaeyoung clings onto her. "I can't lose her again... the last time we only spent two days together..." 

Nayeon closes her eyes. She can heal her. But she can't use this power on a single person.

"Carry her, I'll bring you two back down to the others." Nayeon says. Chaeyoung sobs, but gently takes Tzuyu in her arms.

"Hey, love." Chaeyoung whispers. "Hang in there a bit longer, okay...?" 

Nayeon jumps back down, making sure she didn't touch Tzuyu, and puts them on the ground gently.

Next, Nayeon goes to Jeongyeon. The hunter is groggy, finally waking up from the effects of her medicine. Her eye was still shut, but at least she was alive and moving. 

When she reaches her, Jeongyeon blinks. "You're alive... what happened to—"

"She's dead." Nayeon steps closer. "We did it."

Jeongyeon almost falls back again. "We did it..." Then, she looks around. "What about—"

"Jeong. I'll touch you, now." Nayeon says, cupping her cheek. 

The same thing happens to the hunter. Countless lives are shoved in her brain, lives that were hers. Lives where her devotion lied on a single person. Lives where she was determined to reach a single goal.

When the rush ends, a tear falls from her good eye. "Oh." But Jeongyeon has always been the strongest out of all of them. She immediately takes a deep breath, and recomposes herself. "And the others?"

Nayeon is incredibly grateful for her existence. Always has been. "Get Dahyun and Mina. I have two people to take care of." 

Jeongyeon nods and Nayeon watches her move.

Then, she closes her eyes. Facing them would hurt so much. But she had to.

Nayeon turns around and moves to where Momo and Sana are, lying down, side by side. When Nayeon reaches them, she sees that their hands are touching. 

Their faces are turned to each other. Sana is smiling.

Nayeon has never felt so much heartbreak in her entire existence.

"You with me yet?" Sana's voice is barely a whisper.

Momo caresses her severed hand, even though she can't feel it. "Yeah." 

"I knew you hadn't forgotten..." Sana's smile is peaceful, serene. Like she doesn't have a care in the world.

"Jihyo... made a promise." Momo coughs, then speaks again. "If... I pretended not to know you... and get you out of the way... she wouldn't hurt us... and free us..." 

Sana tries to laugh, but what comes out is a coughing fit. The poison was numbing her senses. "That w-worked out..."

Momo closes her eyes with a smile. "She was crying... and said she was sorry... before she attacked you."

Nayeon presses her palms to her eyes. God, Jihyo. 

"Well..." Sana's eyes never once leave Momo. "At least we're together now... and free... so I guess... she kept her promise, in the end."

Momo blinks away her tears. "This is not how we were supposed to live... I wanted... to do so many things with you..."

"We will, Momo-yah. Right, Nay...?" Sana coughs, looking up at Nayeon.

Nayeon kneels to their side, her face a mess of tears. She lets out a broken sob before touching both of them. "You will."

The memories return. And in every single one of them, Momo and Sana are lovers. Always. 

And it's Momo who recovers first and smiles, brighter than anything. "I knew it... we were happy, at some point..."

Sana blinks, the dam of tears finally breaking. "So many times..." Her eyes are heavy, but she can't stop looking at Momo. "I've loved you forever." 

With her last bit of strength, Sana turns her face to Nayeon. "If I can have... one last request, my lady..."

Nayeon cups Sana's face with her hands, nodding. "Of course."

"You know what... I'm going to ask..." Sana's smile is gentle. "But this... is up to you..." 

Nayeon knows. It's something that Sana has always proud herself in. Something she lost long ago, but fought her hardest to reclaim, even after 400 years of vampirism.

Nayeon looks back at Tzuyu in Chaeyoung's arms, looks at Dahyun, legless, but hugging Tzuyu. Looks at Mina. 

She knows how she's going to use this power, now.

Nayeon bends down, presses a kiss to Sana's forehead. "Hang in there a bit longer, and you'll be finally free."

Sana grins, turning her face back to Momo. "Thank you... Nay."

Nayeon gets up and walks to her friends. 

Dahyun lifts her head up when she sees her. "Your eyes..."

Nayeon kneels to her, touching her cheek. "It's okay."

As Dahyun freezes at the memories, Nayeon looks at Chaeyoung. "Can you wrap her legs and stop the bleeding?"

"Y-yeah, I brought my kit."

"Good." 

Mina is still unconscious. Nayeon's chest hurts. She decides that she'll do this without waking her up. She will deal with the consequences later. "Jeong, get ready to call an ambulance for Dahyun. You'll need to carry her out of here once I'm done."

Jeongyeon nods. 

Once Dahyun is out of her daze, she shakes her head. "Holy shit." Chaeyoung works on her legs as fast as she can, making sure that they're tight and properly wrapped. Dahyun stares at her best friend like she's an entire new person. "We've always been together, huh?"

"Always." 

Once the doctor is finished, she turns to Tzuyu. "And we'll always meet again." She looks at Nayeon. "Right?"

Nayeon nods with a resigned grin. "You're bound by fate, all of you."

Chaeyoung caresses Tzuyu's hair. "...You're not saving her, are you?"

Nayeon keeps quiet. 

Chaeyoung's eyes blur and she looks up. Her head hurts from crying. "Can we say some... last words?"

"Of course." Nayeon nods.

Somehow, Dahyun knew exactly what to say. "Hey, Tzu. I'm guessing Nayeon didn't work her magic on you. That's good. You're g-gonna be okay." 

"Meeting you in this life was... the best thing that's happened to us." Chaeyoung runs her fingers through Tzuyu's hair, gently. "And I'm glad... we made you smile. After years of... you know. Not smiling."

"You have the prettiest smile, Tzuyu." Dahyun chokes. 

"I'm glad we met again." Chaeyoung swallows hard. "I remember, you know? Those two days we spent together. I was Elkie, and you were everything to me. Then I became Chaeyoung, and you became everything to me again. So... I'm s-sure that we'll meet each other again, soon." 

"And me, too!" Dahyun tries to smile, but she sobs instead. "I'll always be by Chaeng's side, so that m-means I'll always be by your side, too! So, d-don't worry. You can rest now. J-just one more time, before a happy life."

Chaeyoung bends down and kisses Tzuyu's lips. "I love you." She whispers against her cold skin.

"Love you, Tzu." Dahyun kisses her forehead. The two finally look at Nayeon and nod. "Go ahead."

Jeongyeon bends over and carries Dahyun in her arms. "I'll call the ambulance out there. Will you be ok?"

Nayeon nods. Once the two are gone, there is silence.

"Say... you're the one who sees it all." Chaeyoung speaks, her gaze far away. "Was this truly the only life Tzuyu was ever happy?"

"Yes." Nayeon says. "There is no point in making her remember other lives when she's the happiest here." 

The doctor nods, and turns away. "Do what you must."

Nayeon closes her eyes and feels her golden eye stinging. She searches for the voice. A new one. The Eye.

_'Have you thought about your wish?'_

"Yes." Nayeon says.

_'You can only make a single one.'_

"I know."

_'Then wish.'_

"Turn all vampires into human again. Every single one." As soon as she's done talking, the eye burns and she frowns, grasping at her skin. She scratches it out of pure agony.

It subdues, slowly. The Eye speaks one last time.

_'It is done. Now, you wait for the next Vessel.'_

Nayeon feels all her powers leaving her body. No more wishes. Now she’s just an immortal being, the only one left in the world, whose destiny is to wait for the next Vessel to come and take the Eye.

But this time, she will hand it over willingly, like it was always meant to be. 

Nayeon's headache is strong, but she looks around and sees her friends. Sana and Momo stopped moving completely now.

But they still stared at each other, smiling.

And their eyes were dark brown instead of silver.

Nayeon smiles. Sana died human like she always wanted. 

Mina stirs, finally waking up. She frowns, mumbles something, and slowly opens her eyes.

They're dark brown. Normal.

"Nayeon...?" Mina groans, sitting back up.

And Nayeon can't hold back. Everything she felt for Mina was still there. Those weren't ever a lie.

She hugs her. And instead of memories, Mina's chest fills with feelings. The only thing she wants to do is hug her back, and kiss her, and be with Nayeon forever.

"Nayeon..." Mina sobs, burying her head in the crook of her neck.

Nayeon laughs and sobs.

Love is the most powerful weapon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on twitter @niigoki_


	16. Epilogue

Nayeon taps the pen against her lip, trying to come up with one last sentence. Something good enough to end her journal with, maybe a cheesy line, or a quote that would stick to the minds of those who read it for eternity.

"You're not the next George Martin, Nayeon." She grunts. 

The doorbell rings then, and Nayeon puts the pen down. "This will have to wait!" She talks to herself more lately, for some reason. Sliding down the stairs, Nayeon jumps giddily. She opens the door with a smile. "Hello, ladies."

"Someone is cheerful." Jeongyeon smirks. 

"I'm always happy when I get to see you." Nayeon pouts.

"I like the happy you." Mina smiles on her wheelchair. Her broken legs would take some time to heal, still.

Nayeon softens her gaze at her and makes way for Jeongyeon to push her inside. "Come in, come in." She hops to the kitchen giddily. "I made some snacks!" She brings out a tray with cookies and small pieces of bread and ham.

Mina takes one and moans at the taste. She missed eating more than anything. "It's so good..."

"It's decent." Jeongyeon teases. It was good. 

"I mean, decent is a compliment for someone who can't taste anything anymore." Nayeon chuckles. Mina and Jeongyeon exchange gazes, now feeling awkward.

"Oh, no, it's okay! I didn't mean—" Nayeon tries to fix it.

"Cranberry juice feels nice on the tongue." Mina smiles softly. 

Nayeon loves her. Always has, always will. "So I've heard."

"Are the others coming today?" Jeongyeon asks, sitting on the couch.

"They should be arriving soon." Nayeon nods. Jeongyeon keeps staring at her and Nayeon raises an eyebrow. "What?"

Jeongyeon smiles. "Nothing." 

Nayeon feels a weird sense of nostalgia and excitement when she looks at her friends now. She knows her soul lived with them for years, but her body only knew them for a few months, at most. It was jarring, in a way.

"Nice eyepatch, by the way." Nayeon teases Jeongyeon. 

Jeongyeon touches the eyepatch, still getting used to her lack of depth perception. "It's not comfortable, but it could've been worse."

"She hit my wheelchair in a lamp post twice when we were coming here." Mina exposes her.

Jeongyeon blushes. "It's only been a week! I’m not used to it yet." 

"I'm fragile baggage, you need to be careful!" Mina shoots back.

"Fragile baggage my ass." Jeongyeon rolls her eye. "You're the strongest person here."

"Jeong, that was sweet." Mina grins.

"Stop."

Nayeon watches the banter and laughs. She missed this. Missed them. Someone knocks on the door and Nayeon's face lights up. "Coming!"

On the other side was Chaeyoung, carrying a phone with Dahyun on facetime. Dahyun smiles. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

Nayeon's chest feels warm. "Wouldn't dream of it."

Chaeyoung giggles and greets Mina and Jeongyeon, moving to the couch next to the hunter. Dahyun keeps talking when Nayeon leaves to bring Chaeyoung a drink, because Dahyun is always the heart of the party. Even when she's in the hospital, resting and getting used to a life without legs. 

"Well, we're all here." Nayeon says and feels her heart sinking instantly. The living room looks so empty with only four of them.

The others look down, experiencing the same. The pain of loss would weight on them for as long as they lived, they knew it. It would be hard. 

"You said you wanted to explain everything." Jeongyeon says, leaning back. "But I think the one who needs to hear it the most is Mina. Right?"

Mina nods. While all her friends seemed to have regained their memories of the past, Mina hadn't. She was ready to know why. 

Nayeon sits on a chair near them and fidgets with her dress. "Well, where do I start..."

"The beginning is usually a good place." Dahyun says, making everyone chuckle.

"Okay. The beginning." Nayeon bites her lower lip. "Thousands of years ago... there was a Golden Eye." 

\--

_"When societies first began to spread, a prophet foresaw the wars for power that would ensue. Humanity wasn't meant to be a peaceful race. They would fight, and death would follow. So, the prophet asked for help from a divine creature. A god, you could say. And the god answered._

_He gave the prophet his own golden eye._

_'Take it. Use this to make a single wish that will help the humans you care so much about.' The god said. 'Once you've made your wish, you will live for a hundred years to see the results. And then, you must give the eye to someone else.'_

_The prophet took the eye, thanked the god, and made a most humble wish. His wish was to simply allow the crops in his land to be ever fruitful. With food, people could survive and live happily._

_And it worked. After his wish, the people of his land never starved again._

_But the villagers wanted to know the reason for such a blessing. Because humanity is so curious, they searched, and searched. And because humanity is ever so greedy for validation, the prophet revealed himself as the reason for their happiness. And he became their leader._

_The story of his blessings traveled far and wide, and soon people from other lands came to him, and treated him as some kind of god. The prophet, however, was still humble and kind._

_After a hundred years, when the new Vessel for the Eye came, he willingly gave the eye away._

_This new Vessel took the eye, and turned into the same immortal being that the prophet once was. Sharp fangs, one golden eye, one silver eye. He never had to eat again. He could never die. Because the Vessel's single reason to exist was to wish for good things for humanity._

_Now, the people treated this new Vessel as their god. Once his reign ended, a new began, with a new Vessel, and a new wish. This cycle kept going for thousands of years._

_Until the day the greed in the hearts of man started taking over. Some people wanted to be gods, too. But at the same time, they were afraid of the creature they would become once the Eye was in their possession. They didn't want to become monsters. Only to have power._

_So, they would make someone a god, and control this person instead. They had to choose a victim._

_One village chose someone. A little girl, who would grow up showered in gifts of gold, who would believe since birth that she was born special, and that when the time came, she would save them all._

_The Half-Golden Maiden would be their salvation. Jihyo._

_But the thing is... Jihyo wasn't the next Vessel. The Eye wasn't hers. It never would be._

_But the people around her didn't care. They wanted power and they would use her for it._  
  
Jihyo grew up, wondering when this promised power would be in her hands. She waited. And finally, after sending their most fierce warriors, they captured it. No one had ever tried to capture The Eye before, so he was powerless before the amount of people who came and tied him up. Broke him, hurt him, chained him. All so Jihyo could have The Eye for herself.

_Jihyo saw that broken man and was startled._

_'Who is this?' She asked._

_'This is your promised power. Take the golden eye for yourself, and you will be our salvation!' The men around her explained._

_And Jihyo, being raised to believe this was her destiny, did as she was told. The Eye was plucked out before its intended time, by someone who was not meant to have its power. This was humanity's biggest mistake._

_Once the men pushed it into Jihyo, the god above felt it. Humanity had taken his generous gift and ruined its purpose for greed._

_So, the god would use his power to ruin humanity back._

_Jihyo turned feral. The golden eye, controlling her movements, made her bite every single person surrounding her. She drank their blood without stopping, and when she was done, she found new victims in the village._

_The people she bit did not die. No, they turned into creatures of the night, who couldn't survive without blood. Silver eyes and fangs. Jihyo created the first vampires. And those vampires would spread, turning more and more people into monsters just like them._

_Once the eye had calmed down and Jihyo could control herself again, she cried. She cried for her ruined village. Her mother and father, the good prophets around her. Was this the power that would lead them all to salvation? Jihyo didn't want it. She tried to remove the eye._

_But she couldn't. She scratched, blood all over her face, but she could not touch it._

_'This is your punishment.' The Eye told her. 'You will live forever, and no other Vessel will be able to take the eye. Because the moment you see the next Vessel, you will murder them.’_

_And that's how Jihyo's miserable existence came to be. She would try to find the Vessel, ask for help, ask them to remove the cursed eye from her socket, but her curse was too strong. Every time she laid eyes on the new Vessel, she immediately tore them to pieces. Repeat."_

\--

The silence in the room was heavy. Mina frowned. "Okay... where do we fit into all of this? Our past lives?"

Nayeon touches her golden eye gently. "The owner of this eye can see everything that the previous owners witnessed. Jihyo saw it, too. The seven souls."

"The Vessel couldn't find The Eye alone. They needed help, guides that would help them on their journey to become the next owner. Those closest to The Vessel were always seven. Seven souls. Seven friends, whose lives were always intertwined with The Vessel. They were you.”

“And that was Jihyo's only hope. If she couldn't remove the eye on her own, and if she couldn't get near The Vessel, she would have to bring the seven souls together again. They would guide The Vessel... they would guide me to her. Until I took my eye back.”

"So... her plan was to wait for our reincarnation?" Dahyun asks.

"She waited. And then, she failed. And when she failed, she waited again. Each time she failed, she would try again. Bring the souls together, give them a reason to protect me, until I managed to kill her." 

"How did she know who we were?" Jeongyeon asks.

"The eye can feel it. They were its friends, after all. Jihyo has always known who the souls were." She looks at Jeongyeon. "But she can't feel The Vessel. At all. Only when she puts her eyes on them. She lived in a constant gamble."

"That's what you read on your father's journal, right?" Nayeon asks. "You knew I was The Vessel, even if you didn't exactly know what that meant. You knew that she couldn't feel me. That's why you told me to hide in plain sight at the fight. To kill her before she could see me." 

"That's why she wouldn't tear her eyes off of you after that." Jeongyeon mumbles to herself. "The Eye saw you, so it had to kill you."

Nayeon nods. "If I had read her instructions on the wall before I beheaded her..." She has so many regrets. Lives could have been spared. 

"So you're telling me that Jihyo's entire purpose was to get every reincarnation of you to kill her?" Mina is speechless.

"Yes."

"That's... what about Goldens? How did they come to be?"

Nayeon avoids her gaze. "That was our idea. Jihyo and my past life's. In the 70's." 

"At some point, Jihyo's personality started to fuse with the vengeful Eye's. She was so tired and desperate to die. She was willing to do whatever it took. 400 years ago, she found Sana and Momo, two of the seven souls. The soulmates. In every life, they were together." 

"She decided to take them for herself and make sure they wouldn't disappear again. She turned them into vampires, then into her retainers. She wanted them to hate her, wanted to give them a reason to turn against her when she found the next Vessel. The same with Tzuyu." 

"She never told them her true purpose, because she couldn't let the Eye know. Everything she planned had to be in silence and in complete secret. The Eye could never know. In the 70's, we met again. All the souls. And I almost won. But almost wasn't enough, and she killed me." 

"Before I died, she asked me 'What is missing? Why did this almost work, but didn't?' And I answered that it was you, Mina." Nayeon looks at her.

Mina blinks. "Me?"

"Your love and devotion for me back then. And fuck, it was cheesy, but you just wouldn't allow her to kill me. The only reason she killed me was because you were human and weak. Your past life died for me. So I had a delirious idea. I told her to turn this devotion into power. Vampires. My last words for Jihyo were _'Love is the most powerful weapon._ '"

Mina's chest hurts. 

"Jihyo hadn't used her wish up until then.” Nayeon continues. “She had nothing to wish for, because all she wanted was to get rid of the eye. But after that, she did wish for something. She wished for the power to create new vampires. Ones who could live and love like humans. Completely devoted." 

Mina places a hand to her chest. "So Jihyo created all Goldens... to be the protectors of the humans they loved."

Nayeon nods. "Goldens weren't meant to fall in love with each other because they existed to love and protect the new Vessel. Whoever that might be."

"So Jihyo is the one who personally turned us into Goldens?" Dahyun asks.

"Yes. She would bite you, you would turn into a Silver, and then she would use her eye to change you into a Golden. She erased your mind." Nayeon answers. "She chose Dahyun and Mina to be the protectors." 

Nayeon sighs. "And that's when she planned the whole thing. She used Tzuyu to kill Jeong's parents, giving her a reason to chase after her, and to make Tzuyu guilty enough to leave her coven. She chose the night Mina was there to trigger Jeongyeon's memories once she was turned." 

"Then, she allowed Mina to join her coven to meet Sana. Mina crushed on Sana and decided to fight for her happiness. Then, Jihyo expanded her territory, which made Sana hunt me that night. Sana took an interest in me, which made Mina call a hunter for help. Jeong's sister." 

"Sana beat your sister enough for you to feel more vengeful towards vampires. After that, I met Chaeyoung, who saved me from heatstroke, and Dahyun, who was going after a cat."

"Noodle is the son of the stray cat Tzuyu brought Jeongyeon the night of the fire." Dahyun adds. 

"What??" Jeongyeon asks.

"Just saying, she had everything planned!" Dahyun shrugs.

"Noodle is important! Jihyo sent the Cat-napper after him, which made Dahyun meet Jeongyeon and get her business card, which made Chaeyoung call her when Tzuyu ran away from home." Nayeon nods. 

"Then the only thing left for Jihyo to do was take Momo away from Sana for good, which was the last straw. Sana met us at Chaeyoung's apartment, and we all came together again to fight her." Nayeon looks down. "Jihyo didn't want her retainers to die. But the Eye was too strong." 

Nayeon finishes by massaging her temples. "And... that's what happened. Jihyo planned everything in silence, made people hate her, only to make sure the Eye returned to its true Vessel. Me."

Everyone is quiet for a moment. That was a lot to take in at once. 

Mina's voice is quiet when she asks. "But now... what happens to you?"

Nayeon feels all the eyes on her and smiles sadly. "Now I get to wait 100 years until the next Vessel comes along to snatch this shiny ball off my eye socket."

No one laughs.

"Then you die." Mina says. 

"Then I die." Nayeon repeats.

"But you won't age. And I will." Mina knows what she's saying, and knows what that means. It doesn't make it any easier to accept it.

"It's... unfortunate." That's not exactly what Nayeon wants to say, but she says it regardless. "I'm sorry." 

Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung exchange gazes. "We'll... go outside for a moment. Take your time."

The two get up, squeezing Mina's shoulder as they walk past her. They close the door, leaving Mina and Nayeon alone.

"You could have asked for anything when you got the eye." Mina says. 

"I could have." Nayeon mutters.

"You could have wished for everyone to return to normal, but not me. I could've been living with you."

Nayeon's smile is broken. "I will die, Mina. If you had remained a vampire, what good would that do? You would watch me perish." 

"But I want to be by your side!" Mina knows that what she's asking is childish and irrational, but her feelings for Nayeon ever since she touched her had exploded in a way that made her act like an irrational child. "Forever..."

Nayeon leans forward and holds her hand. 

"Why didn't my memories return like the others?" Mina asks, a tear dripping on the carpet.

"Because out of the seven souls, yours is the only one who was born to give the Vessel a reason to live." Nayeon's voice trembles. "You did remember. You remembered your feelings." 

Mina looks up and it's like she's hit by a train when Nayeon starts crying in front of her. "And we will be together. ‘Til death do us part."

Mina let's out a chortle between a sob. "Are you asking me to marry you?"

"Yes."

"Oh." Mina freezes, then smiles. "...Okay." 

Nayeon gets up and moves close to Mina. They touch foreheads, and it's like coming home after a long, long day.

"Myoui Mina." Nayeon whispers close to her lips. "Will you marry me?"

And Mina cries and laughs and hugs her all at once. "You're so weird, Im Nayeon." 

\--

Later that night, Nayeon finds the perfect quote to end her journal with. She grabs her pen, sits comfortably, and smiles to herself.

She thinks about the future and her new (almost) wife, takes a sip of cranberry juice.

And writes.

_'I feel like this is the first day of the rest of my life.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!
> 
> follow me on twitter @niigoki_


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